Structural Characterization of Bacterial Nanowires
EMSL Project ID
47842
Abstract
Several species of bacteria are capable of reducing insoluble metal oxides as well as other extracellular electron acceptors. These bacteria play a critical role in the cycling of minerals in subsurface environments, sediments, and groundwater. In some species of bacteria, such as Geobacter Sulfurreducens, the transport of electrons is facilitated by filamentous fibers that are referred to as bacterial nanowires. These nanowires belong to the type IVa family of pilin proteins and are comprised of mainly one subunit protein, PilA. We propose studies to determine the atomic resolution structure of the PilA protein as both an isolated subunit and when integrated into bacterial nanowires. Our studies will require the use of several core EMSL capabilities, including solution state NMR spectroscopy, solid state NMR spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. The structures of PilA will provide important insights into the atomic level organization of bacterial nanowires and their possible electron transport mechanisms. The importance of bacterial nanowires to mineral cycling and bioremediation make these studies relevant to the Biological Interactions and Dynamics and Biogeochemistry Science themes. All structures determined by this research effort will be deposited in the protein databank and published.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2013-10-01
End Date
2015-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members
Related Publications
Reardon PN, and KT Mueller. 2013. "Structure of the Type IVa Major Pilin from the Electrically Conductive Bacterial Nanowires of Geobacter sulfurreducens." Journal of Biological Chemistry 288(41):29260-29266. doi:10.1074/jbc.M113.498527