ArticleEuropean biophysics journal : EBJ2012
Helix-like biopolymers can act as dampers of force for bacteria in flows.
Article in European biophysics journal : EBJ, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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24 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- 3D-printed temperature and shear stress-controlled rocker platform for enhanced biofilm incubation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Structures of the Escherichia coli type 1 pilus during pilus rod assembly and after assembly termination.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The assembly platform FimD is required to obtain the most stable quaternary structure of type 1 pili.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Endospore pili: Flexible, stiff, and sticky nanofibers.Biophysical journal · 2023Article
- Extensible membrane nanotubules mediate attachment of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes under flow.PloS one · 2023Article
- Unveiling molecular interactions that stabilize bacterial adhesion pili.Biophysical journal · 2022Article
- A host receptor enables type 1 pilus-mediated pathogenesis of Escherichia coli pyelonephritis.PLoS pathogens · 2021Article
- The extracellular juncture domains in the intimin passenger adopt a constitutively extended conformation inducing restraints to its sphere of action.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Cryo-EM structure of the CFA/I pilus rod.IUCrJ · 2019Article
- The Remarkable Biomechanical Properties of the Type 1 Chaperone-Usher Pilus: A Structural and Molecular Perspective.Microbiology spectrum · 2019Review
- Mechanical architecture and folding of E. coli type 1 pilus domains.Nature communications · 2018Article
- The Role of Glycans in Bacterial Adhesion to Mucosal Surfaces: How Can Single-Molecule Techniques Advance Our Understanding?Microorganisms · 2018Review
- Functional role of the type 1 pilus rod structure in mediating host-pathogen interactions.eLife · 2018Article
- The Cryoelectron Microscopy Structure of the Type 1 Chaperone-Usher Pilus Rod.Structure (London, England : 1993) · 2017Article
- Antibodies Damage the Resilience of Fimbriae, Causing Them To Be Stiff and Tangled.Journal of bacteriology · 2017Article
- CnaA domains in bacterial pili are efficient dissipaters of large mechanical shocks.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2016Article
- Antibody-mediated disruption of the mechanics of CS20 fimbriae of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.Scientific reports · 2015Article
- Biomechanical and structural features of CS2 fimbriae of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.Biophysical journal · 2015Article
- Rigid multibody simulation of a helix-like structure: the dynamics of bacterial adhesion pili.European biophysics journal : EBJ · 2015Article
- Structure and function of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli fimbriae from differing assembly pathways.Molecular microbiology · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Biopolymers are vital structures for many living organisms; for a variety of bacteria, adhesion polymers play a crucial role for the initiation of colonization. Some bacteria express, on their surface, attachment organelles (pili) that comprise subunits formed into stiff helix-like structures that possess unique biomechanical properties. These helix-like structures possess a high degree of flexibility that gives the biopolymers a unique extendibility. This has been considered beneficial for piliated bacteria adhering to host surfaces in the presence of a fluid flow. We show in this work that helix-like pili have the ability to act as efficient dampers of force that can, for a limited time, lower the load on the force-mediating adhesin-receptor bond on the tip of an individual pilus. The model presented is applied to bacteria adhering with a single pilus of either of the two most common types expressed by uropathogenic Escherichia coli, P or type 1 pili, subjected to realistic flows. The results indicate that for moderate flows (~25 mm/s) the force experienced by the adhesin-receptor interaction at the tip of the pilus can be reduced by a factor of ~6 and ~4, respectively. The uncoiling ability provides a bacterium with a "go with the flow" possibility that acts as a damping. It is surmised that this can be an important factor for the initial part of the adhesion process, in particular in turbulent flows, and thereby be of use for bacteria in their striving to survive a natural defense such as fluid rinsing actions.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.