Unusual cell surfaces, pili, and archaella of <i>Thermoplasmatales</i> archaea

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
The ISME Journal
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wraf176
Primary Topic
Enterobacteriaceae and Cronobacter Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Unusual cell surfaces, pili, and archaella of Thermoplasmatales archaea

Alejandra Recalde, Michail N. Isupov, Olga V. Golyshina, Rafael Bargiela et al.
The ISME Journal
Enterobacteriaceae and Cronobacter Research
article

Unusual cell surfaces, pili, and archaella of Thermoplasmatales archaea

Alejandra Recalde, Michail N. Isupov, Olga V. Golyshina, Rafael Bargiela, Peter N. Golyshin, Risat Ul Haque, Mathew McLaren, Matthew Gaines, Bertram Daum, Vicki A. M. Gold, Sonja‐Verena Albers
article en

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.

The ISME JournalVol. 19(1)
University of Freiburg (DE), Bangor University (GB), University of Exeter (GB), Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg (DE)
Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, European Regional Development Fund
Openalex Percentile: Top 83%
Enterobacteriaceae and Cronobacter Research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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