Building a flagellum in biological outer space.
Building a flagellum in biological outer space.
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DOI：
10.15698/mic2014.01.128
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发表时间：
2014-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Fraser GM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Evans LD;Hughes C;Fraser GM
鞭毛是细菌表面的旋转推进器，它为细胞如何构建和操作复杂的分子“纳米机器”提供了一个范例。鞭毛以恒定的速率生长，延伸到细胞长度的几倍，这是通过数千个分泌的结构亚基通过延长鞭毛中的中央通道进入远处延伸尖端的新生结构来实现的。一个很大的谜团是鞭毛如何在细胞外聚集，那里没有常规的能量供应来促进它们的生长。Evans等人[Nature（2013）504：287-290]最近发表的工作已经在某种程度上解决了这个难题，提出了一种简单而优雅的运输机制，其中生长由亚基本身提供动力，因为它们在一条链中首尾相连，该链被拉过生长结构的长度到达尖端。这种新机制回答了一个老问题，并可能在其他组装过程中产生共鸣。
Flagella, the rotary propellers on the surface of bacteria, present a paradigm for how cells build and operate complex molecular ‘nanomachines’. Flagella grow at a constant rate to extend several times the length of the cell, and this is achieved by thousands of secreted structural subunits transiting through a central channel in the lengthening flagellum to incorporate into the nascent structure at the distant extending tip. A great mystery has been how flagella can assemble far outside the cell where there is no conventional energy supply to fuel their growth. Recent work published by Evans et al. [Nature (2013) 504: 287-290], has gone some way towards solving this puzzle, presenting a simple and elegant transit mechanism in which growth is powered by the subunits themselves as they link head-to-tail in a chain that is pulled through the length of the growing structure to the tip. This new mechanism answers an old question and may have resonance in other assembly processes.