Concept

Pilin

Related publications (15)

Dangerous acquaintances: the interplay between type IV pili and the type VI secretion system during Vibrio cholerae's environmental lifestyle

Cholera, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, has affected humanity throughout history and still impacts millions of people every year. Apart from being a human pathogen, V. cholerae is a common member of the aquatic environment. Due to this natural re ...

EPFL2024

Interactions between pili affect the outcome of bacterial competition driven by the type VI secretion system

Melanie Blokesch, Anne-Florence Raphaëlle Bitbol, Alexandre Lemopoulos, Richard Marie Servajean, Simon Bernhard Otto

The bacterial type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a widespread, kin-discriminatory weapon capable of shaping microbial communities. Due to the system’s dependency on contact, cellular interactions can lead to either competition or kin protection. Cell-to-ce ...

2024

Two antagonistic response regulators control Pseudomonas aeruginosa polarization during mechanotaxis

Alexandre Louis André Persat, Lorenzo Anton-Louis Talà, Xavier Jean-Yves Pierrat, Zaïnebe Dhirani, Marco Julian Kühn

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapts to solid surfaces to enhance virulence and infect its host. Type IV pili (T4P), long and thin filaments that power surface-specific twitching motility, allow single cells to sense surfaces and contro ...

WILEY2023

Natural competence of the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii: an elusive phenomenon

Nina Vesel

Natural competence for transformation is an important driver of horizontal DNA exchange between different organisms. This can result in accumulation of dangerous genetic features, such as antibiotic resistance genes, in a single organism. One example of an ...

EPFL2022

Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa mechanosensing through label-free imaging of type IV pili

Lorenzo Anton-Louis Talà

Bacteria are ubiquitously found in all sorts of environment. They're found in the ocean, soil, or even in our guts or on our skin. Independently of their niche, they can transition from a planktonic state were they freely swim in an aqueous environment to ...

EPFL2022

Pilus production in Acinetobacter baumannii is growth phase dependent and essential for natural transformation

Melanie Blokesch, Nina Vesel

Acinetobacter baumannii is a severe threat to human health as a frequently multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired pathogen. Part of the danger from this bacterium comes from its genome plasticity and ability to evolve quickly by taking up and recombining ex ...

American Society for Microbiology2021

Parietal Structures of Escherichia coli Can Impact the D-Cateslytin Antibacterial Activity

Georg Fantner, Oliver Peric

Bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics is of major concern. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered excellent alternatives. Among them, D-cateslytin (D-Ctl, derivative of a host defense peptide) has shown high efficiency against a broad spec ...

2020

DNA-uptake pili of Vibrio cholerae are required for chitin colonization and capable of kin recognition via sequence-specific self-interaction

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, Candice Stoudmann, David William Adams

How bacteria colonize surfaces and how they distinguish the individuals around them are fundamental biological questions. Type IV pili are a widespread and multipurpose class of cell surface polymers. Here we directly visualize the DNA-uptake pilus of Vibr ...

2019

The type IV pilus protein PilU functions as a PilT-dependent retraction ATPase

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, Candice Stoudmann, David William Adams, Jorge André Matias Pereira

Type IV pili are dynamic cell surface appendages found throughout the bacteria. The ability of these structures to undergo repetitive cycles of extension and retraction underpins their crucial roles in adhesion, motility and natural competence for transfor ...

2019

Mechanisms of DNA Uptake by Naturally Competent Bacteria

Melanie Blokesch

Transformation is a widespread mechanism of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria. DNA uptake to the periplasmic compartment requires a DNA-uptake pilus and the DNA-binding protein ComEA. In the gram-negative bacteria, DNA is first pulled toward the outer m ...

2019

Pseudomonas aeruginosa orchestrates twitching motility by sequential control of type IV pili movements

Alexandre Louis André Persat, Lorenzo Anton-Louis Talà

Prokaryotes have the ability to walk on surfaces using type IV pili (TFP), a motility mechanism known as twitching(1,2). Molecular motors drive TFP extension and retraction, but whether and how these movements are coordinated is unknown(3). Here, we reveal ...

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP2019

A scaffold protein connects type IV pili with the Chp chemosensory system to mediate activation of virulence signaling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Alexandre Louis André Persat

Type IV pili (TFP) function as mechanosensors to trigger acute virulence programs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. On surface contact, TFP retraction activates the Chp chemosensory system phosphorelay to upregulate 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) production a ...

Wiley-Blackwell2016

Mechanistic aspects of DNA uptake in naturally competent Vibrio cholerae

Patrick Martin Seitz

The physiological state of competence for natural transformation allows bacteria to take up free DNA from the environment and recombine it into their genome. As one of three modes of horizontal gene transfer, natural transformation has hence contributed su ...

EPFL2014

Composition of the DNA-uptake complex of Vibrio cholerae

Melanie Blokesch, Lisa Christina Metzger

Natural competence for transformation is a developmental program that allows certain bacteria to take up free extracellular DNA from the environment and integrate this DNA into their genome. Thereby, natural transformation acts as mode of horizontal gene t ...

2014

DNA-uptake machinery of naturally competent Vibrio cholerae

Melanie Blokesch, Patrick Martin Seitz

Natural competence for transformation is a mode of horizontal gene transfer that is commonly used by bacteria to take up DNA from their environment. As part of this developmental program, so-called competence genes, which encode the components of a DNA-upt ...

National Academy of Sciences2013