Microcins reveal natural mechanisms of bacterial manipulation to inform therapeutic development

JK Parker, BW Davies - Microbiology, 2022 - microbiologyresearch.org
Microcins are an understudied and poorly characterized class of antimicrobial peptides.
Despite the existence of only 15 examples, all identified from the Enterobacteriaceae …

Lipids mediate supramolecular outer membrane protein assembly in bacteria

MN Webby, AO Oluwole, C Pedebos, PG Inns… - Science …, 2022 - science.org
β Barrel outer membrane proteins (OMPs) cluster into supramolecular assemblies that give
function to the outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria. How such assemblies form …

Force-generation by the trans-envelope Tol-Pal system

MN Webby, DP Williams-Jones, C Press… - Frontiers in …, 2022 - frontiersin.org
The Tol-Pal system spans the cell envelope of Gram-negative bacteria, transducing the
potential energy of the proton motive force (PMF) into dissociation of the TolB-Pal complex at …

Tunable force transduction through the Escherichia coli cell envelope

DP Williams-Jones, MN Webby, CE Press… - Proceedings of the …, 2023 - pnas.org
The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria is not energised and so processes
requiring a driving force must connect to energy-transduction systems in the inner …

Microbiome-derived cobalamin and succinyl-CoA as biomarkers for improved screening of anal cancer

S Serrano-Villar, C Tincati, SC Raju, JS Sáenz… - Nature Medicine, 2023 - nature.com
Human papillomavirus can cause preinvasive, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions
(HSILs) as precursors to cancer in the anogenital area, and the microbiome is suggested to …

Conformational rearrangements in the sensory RcsF/OMP complex mediate signal transduction across the bacterial cell envelope

SR Lach, S Kumar, S Kim, W Im, A Konovalova - PLoS genetics, 2023 - journals.plos.org
Timely detection and repair of envelope damage are paramount for bacterial survival. The
Regulator of Capsule Synthesis (Rcs) stress response can transduce the stress signals …

Colicin E1 opens its hinge to plug TolC

SJ Budiardjo, JJ Stevens, AL Calkins, AP Ikujuni… - Elife, 2022 - elifesciences.org
The double membrane architecture of Gram-negative bacteria forms a barrier that is
impermeable to most extracellular threats. Bacteriocin proteins evolved to exploit the …

Klebicin E, a pore-forming bacteriocin of Klebsiella pneumoniae, exploits the porin OmpC and the Ton system for translocation

X Zhao, W Wang, X Zeng, R Xu, B Yuan, W Yu… - Journal of Biological …, 2024 - jbc.org
Bacteriocins, which have narrow-spectrum activity and limited adverse effects, are promising
alternatives to antibiotics. In this study, we identified klebicin E (KlebE), a small bacteriocin …

Proteolytic processing induces a conformational switch required for antibacterial toxin delivery

NL Bartelli, VJ Passanisi, K Michalska, K Song… - nature …, 2022 - nature.com
Many Gram-negative bacteria use CdiA effector proteins to inhibit the growth of neighboring
competitors. CdiA transfers its toxic CdiA-CT region into the periplasm of target cells, where …

Structural constraints of pyocin S2 import through the ferripyoverdine receptor FpvAI

JD Goult, DCL Van, YV Taylor, PG Inns… - PNAS …, 2024 - academic.oup.com
TonB-dependent transporters (TBDTs) mediate energized transport of essential nutrients
into gram-negative bacteria. TBDTs are increasingly being exploited for the delivery of …