Surface Architecture of Endospores of the Bacillus Cereus/Anthracis/Thuringiensis Family at the Subnanometer Scale
Surface architecture of endospores of the Bacillus cereus/anthracis/thuringiensis family at the subnanometer scale Lekshmi Kailasa, Cassandra Terrya,1, Nicholas Abbotta, Robert Taylora, Nic Mullinb, Svetomir B. Tzokova, Sarah J. Todda, B. A. Wallacec, Jamie K. Hobbsb, Anne Moira, and Per A. Bullougha,2 aKrebs Institute for Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom; bDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom; and cDepartment of Crystallography, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck College, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom Edited by Richard M. Losick, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved August 5, 2011 (received for review June 14, 2011) Bacteria of the Bacillus cereus family form highly resistant spores, carbohydrate (9). Proteins of the exosporium are likely to have which in the case of the pathogen B. anthracis act as the agents of intimate interactions with the environment and are also potential infection. The outermost layer, the exosporium, enveloping spores candidates for vaccines and ligands for spore detection (10, 11). of the B. cereus family as well as a number of Clostridia, plays roles in Two exosporium glycoproteins, BclA and BclB, have been spore adhesion, dissemination, targeting, and germination control. identified in B. anthracis (8, 12, 13). These contain a central tri- We have analyzed two naturally crystalline layers associated with meric collagen-like domain, a processed N-terminal domain an- the exosporium, one representing the “basal” layer to which the choring the protein to the basal layer, and a C-terminal head outermost spore layer (“hairy nap”) is attached, and the other likely domain whose structure has been elucidated to atomic resolution representing a subsurface (“parasporal”) layer.
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