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Some bacteria, viruses or bacteriophages attach to receptors on pili at the start of their reproductive cycle. Pili are antigenic. They are also fragile and constantly replaced, sometimes with pili of different composition, resulting in altered antigenicity. Specific host responses to old pili structures are not effective on the new structure.
P fimbriae are large, linear structures projecting from the surface of the bacterial cell. With lengths of 1-2um, the pili can be larger than the diameter of the bacteria itself. [4] The main body of the fimbriae is composed of approx. 1000 copies of the major fimbrial subunit protein PapA, forming a helical rod. [5]
The bacterial DNA is not packaged using histones to form chromatin as in eukaryotes but instead exists as a highly compact supercoiled structure, the precise nature of which remains unclear. [6] Most bacterial chromosomes are circular, although some examples of linear chromosomes exist (e.g. Borrelia burgdorferi). Usually, a single bacterial ...
The usher forms the outer-membrane pore and functions in vivo as a dimer, though only one of the ushers is active at any one time. [3] The usher pore (PapC) is formed by a 24 stranded beta barrel with 4 additional domains: N-terminal domain (NTD), Plug domain, and two C-terminal domains (CTD1 and CTD2 respectively).
Three types of gliding motility in bacteria are: a) Type IV pili: A cell attaches its pili to a surface or object in the direction it is traveling.The proteins in the pili are then broken down to shrink the pili pulling the cell closer to the surface or object that was it was attached to.
The pili are a pivotal virulence factor for N. gonorrhoeae; without them, the bacterium is unable to promote colonization. [44] For motility, individual bacteria use their pili in a manner that resembles a grappling hook: first, they are extended from the cell surface and attach to a substrate. Subsequent pilus retraction drags the cell forward.
Twitching motility is a form of crawling bacterial motility used to move over surfaces. Twitching is mediated by the activity of hair-like filaments called type IV pili which extend from the cell's exterior, bind to surrounding solid substrates, and retract, pulling the cell forwards in a manner similar to the action of a grappling hook.
Bacterial conjugation is the transfer of genetic material between bacterial cells by direct cell-to-cell contact or by a bridge-like connection between two cells. [1] This takes place through a pilus. [2] [full citation needed] It is a parasexual mode of reproduction in bacteria. Escherichia coli conjugating using F-pili. These long and robust ...