Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Archaea of the order Thermoplasmatales push the boundaries of our current knowledge of prokaryotic life. They show distinct cellular plasticity, heterogenous cell morphologies, and lack a paracrystalline S-layer. As the S-layer has previously been implicated in acting as a stator scaffold for filaments driving cellular propulsion, particularly archaella, we asked whether the absence of an S-layer precludes the formation of functional archaella or pili in Thermoplasmatales. Using cryoEM, we investigated the two Thermoplasmatales species Cuniculiplasma divulgatum and Oxyplasma meridianum. We found that these species indeed generate pili and archaella and that the latter likely function in cellular propulsion. Whereas C. divulgatum produces pili with terminal hooks using a unique assembly machinery, O. meridianum generates unusually wide, "barbed" archaella with a high degree of glycosylation. Our results show that for the generation of functional archaella and pili, a canonical S-layer is not necessary.
Source: The ISME Journal
Institutions: University of Exeter, University of Freiburg, Bangor University
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,153
Awards: G1228557247, Expanding the capabilities and use of the South West Regional Facility for High-Resolution Electron Cryo-microscopy, G1514386576, G259924242, G2932782321, BlueCryo Image Processing Computing Cluster, G339059223, G434337789, EXC 2189: CIBSS Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies, G5441896331, The bacterial type IV pilus machinery as a DNA translocator, South West Regional Facility for High-Resolution Electron Cryo-Microscopy, G8156853268, SFB 1381: Dynamische Organisation zellulärer Proteinmaschinerien: Von der Biogenese und modularen Assemblierung zur Funktion
OpenAlex ID: W4413113015