ArticleNature2014
Structure of a type IV secretion system.
Article in Nature, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 165 papers.
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Who cites it
165 citing papers in PubMed, 306 citations in OpenAlex.
- Harnessing Microbial Adaptation: A Highly Zn-Resistant Stenotrophomonas sepilia FCHC-ZnA2 for Efficient Zinc Removal via Enhanced EPS Synthesis and ZnS Biomineralization.Biological trace element research · 2026Article
- Structural basis for TrbM-enhanced conjugation and interbacterial killing in the RP4 plasmid.iScience · 2026Article
- Type IV secretion systems: reconciling diversity through a unified nomenclature.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- Transmembrane effector substrates of type IV secretion systems: mechanisms of secretion and insertion into host cell membranes.microLife · 2026Review
- Antimicrobial Resistance Transmission of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in Hydroponic Farming Components.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Type IV secretion systems: from structures to mechanisms.The EMBO journal · 2025Review
- The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn's disease-associated Escherichia coli strain.Nature communications · 2025Article
- In situ structures of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
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- Genomic diversity of mcr-carrying plasmids and the role of type IV secretion systems in IncI2 plasmids conjugation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Non-antibiotic compounds associated with humans and the environment can promote horizontal transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes.Critical reviews in microbiology · 2024Review
- Transient colonizing microbes promote gut dysbiosis and functional impairment.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2024Article
- Conjugative type IV secretion systems enable bacterial antagonism that operates independently of plasmid transfer.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Structural and functional diversity of type IV secretion systems.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2024Review
- Chimeric systems composed of swapped Tra subunits between distantly-related F plasmids reveal striking plasticity among type IV secretion machines.PLoS genetics · 2024Article
- Structural Analysis of Protein Complexes by Cryo-Electron Microscopy.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2024Review
- Comparative Analysis of T4SS Molecular Architectures.Journal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2023Review
- Evolution and exchange of plasmids in pathogenicmSphere · 2023Article
- Chimeric systems composed of swapped Tra subunits between distantly-related F plasmids reveal striking plasticity among type IV secretion machines.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
105 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Bacterial type IV secretion systems translocate virulence factors into eukaryotic cells, distribute genetic material between bacteria and have shown potential as a tool for the genetic modification of human cells. Given the complex choreography of the substrate through the secretion apparatus, the molecular mechanism of the type IV secretion system has proved difficult to dissect in the absence of structural data for the entire machinery. Here we use electron microscopy to reconstruct the type IV secretion system encoded by the Escherichia coli R388 conjugative plasmid. We show that eight proteins assemble in an intricate stoichiometric relationship to form an approximately 3 megadalton nanomachine that spans the entire cell envelope. The structure comprises an outer membrane-associated core complex connected by a central stalk to a substantial inner membrane complex that is dominated by a battery of 12 VirB4 ATPase subunits organized as side-by-side hexameric barrels. Our results show a secretion system with markedly different architecture, and consequently mechanism, to other known bacterial secretion systems.
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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.