These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Structural basis of PcsB-mediated cell separation in Streptococcus pneumoniae.
    Author: Bartual SG, Straume D, Stamsås GA, Muñoz IG, Alfonso C, Martínez-Ripoll M, Håvarstein LS, Hermoso JA.
    Journal: Nat Commun; 2014 May 08; 5():3842. PubMed ID: 24804636.
    Abstract:
    Separation of daughter cells during bacterial cell division requires splitting of the septal cross wall by peptidoglycan hydrolases. In Streptococcus pneumoniae, PcsB is predicted to perform this operation. Recent evidence shows that PcsB is recruited to the septum by the transmembrane FtsEX complex, and that this complex is required for cell division. However, PcsB lacks detectable catalytic activity in vitro, and while it has been proposed that FtsEX activates PcsB, evidence for this is lacking. Here we demonstrate that PcsB has muralytic activity, and report the crystal structure of full-length PcsB. The protein adopts a dimeric structure in which the V-shaped coiled-coil (CC) domain of each monomer acts as a pair of molecular tweezers locking the catalytic domain of each dimeric partner in an inactive configuration. This suggests that the release of the catalytic domains likely requires an ATP-driven conformational change in the FtsEX complex, conveyed towards the catalytic domains through coordinated movements of the CC domain.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]