Two dramatically distinct archaeal type IV pili structures formed by the same pilin.
Junfeng Liu, Gunnar N Eastep, Virginija Cvirkaite-Krupovic, Shane T Rich-New, Mark A B Kreutzberger, Edward H Egelman, Mart Krupovic, Fengbin WangAbstract
Type IV pili (T4P) represent one of the most common varieties of surface appendages in archaea. These filaments, assembled from relatively small pilin proteins, can be many microns long and serve diverse functions, including adhesion, biofilm formation, motility, and intercellular communication. Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), we determined atomic structures of two dramatically different T4P from