PDBsum entry 6u5h

Unknown function

PDB id: 6u5h

Contents

Protein chains

318 a.a.

References listed in PDB file

Key reference

• Title: Action of a minimal contractile bactericidal nanomachine.
• Authors: P.Ge, D.Scholl, N.S.Prokhorov, J.Avaylon, M.M.Shneider, C.Browning, S.A.Buth, M.Plattner, U.Chakraborty, K.Ding, P.G.Leiman, J.F.Miller, Z.H.Zhou.
• Ref.: Nature, 2020, 580, 658-662. [DOI no: 10.1038/s41586-020-2186-z]
• PubMed id: 32350467

Abstract

R-type bacteriocins are minimal contractile nanomachines that hold promise as precision antibiotics^1-4. Each bactericidal complex uses a collar to bridge a hollow tube with a contractile sheath loaded in a metastable state by a baseplate scaffold^1,2. Fine-tuning of such nucleic acid-free protein machines for precision medicine calls for an atomic description of the entire complex and contraction mechanism, which is not available from baseplate structures of the (DNA-containing) T4 bacteriophage⁵. Here we report the atomic model of the complete R2 pyocin in its pre-contraction and post-contraction states, each containing 384 subunits of 11 unique atomic models of 10 gene products. Comparison of these structures suggests the following sequence of events during pyocin contraction: tail fibres trigger lateral dissociation of baseplate triplexes; the dissociation then initiates a cascade of events leading to sheath contraction; and this contraction converts chemical energy into mechanical force to drive the iron-tipped tube across the bacterial cell surface, killing the bacterium.