ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2013
Specific DNA recognition mediated by a type IV pilin.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
105 citing papers in PubMed, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Insight into the relationship between type IV pilus function and biofilm formation.Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
- The stoichiometry of minor-to-major pilins regulates the dynamic activity of the type IVa competence pilus in Vibrio cholerae.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Visualization of Type IV Pili: Linking Structural Architecture, Dynamic Function, and Translational Opportunities.Biology · 2026Review
- PilY proteins: bimodular drivers of type IV pilus versatility.Trends in microbiology · 2026Review
- Single-bacterial cell insights into mechanisms of ceftriaxone resistance in Neisseria subflava.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Introgression impacts the evolution of bacteria, but species borders are rarely fuzzy.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Molecular interplay between ComEC domains allows for selective degradation of the non-translocating strand during natural transformation.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Beyond movement: the dynamic roles of Type IV pili in cyanobacterial life.Journal of bacteriology · 2025Review
- Article
- Improved DNA binding to a type IV minor pilin increases natural transformation.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- The Transformation Experiment of Frederick Griffith II: Inclusion of Cellular Heredity for the Creation of Novel Microorganisms.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The molecular basis for DNA-binding by competence T4P is distinct in a representative Gram-positive and Gram-negative species.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Discovery of the widespread site-specific single-stranded nuclease family Ssn.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Naturally competent bacteria and their genetic parasites-a battle for control over horizontal gene transfer?FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Type IV minor pilin ComN predicted the USS-receptor in Pasteurellaceae.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Type IV pili ofEcoSal Plus · 2024Review
- Structure of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 Type IV pilus.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Expanding the genetic toolbox forApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
45 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Natural transformation is a dominant force in bacterial evolution by promoting horizontal gene transfer. This process may have devastating consequences, such as the spread of antibiotic resistance or the emergence of highly virulent clones. However, uptake and recombination of foreign DNA are most often deleterious to competent species. Therefore, model naturally transformable gram-negative bacteria, including the human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis, have evolved means to preferentially take up homotypic DNA containing short and genus-specific sequence motifs. Despite decades of intense investigations, the DNA uptake sequence receptor in Neisseria species has remained elusive. We show here, using a multidisciplinary approach combining biochemistry, molecular genetics, and structural biology, that meningococcal type IV pili bind DNA through the minor pilin ComP via an electropositive stripe that is predicted to be exposed on the filaments surface and that ComP displays an exquisite binding preference for DNA uptake sequence. Our findings illuminate the earliest step in natural transformation, reveal an unconventional mechanism for DNA binding, and suggest that selective DNA uptake is more widespread than previously thought.
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Registered trials
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.