Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24864127›Full record

ArticleThe EMBO journal2014

The number of Neisseria meningitidis type IV pili determines host cell interaction.

Anne-Flore Imhaus, Guillaume Duménil

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The EMBO journal, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
45citing papers in PubMed
4.6field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

45 citing papers in PubMed, 63 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The role of extracellular DNA inJournal of bacteriology · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Type IV pili ofEcoSal Plus · 2024
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. The Host-Pathogen Interactions and Epicellular Lifestyle ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022
    Review
  15. The minor pilin PilV provides a conserved adhesion site throughout the antigenically variable meningococcal type IV pilus.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021
    Article
  16. Article
  17. The Role of Minor Pilins in Assembly and Function of the Competence Pilus ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Anne-Flore ImhausINSERM U970 Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Paris, France Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
Guillaume DuménilINSERM U970 Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Paris, France Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France guillaume.dumenil@inserm.fr.
Délégation Paris 5 · FRInserm · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As mediators of adhesion, autoaggregation and bacteria-induced plasma membrane reorganization, type IV pili are at the heart of Neisseria meningitidis infection. Previous studies have proposed that two minor pilins, PilV and PilX, are displayed along the pilus structure and play a direct role in mediating these effects. In contrast with this hypothesis, combining imaging and biochemical approaches we found that PilV and PilX are located in the bacterial periplasm rather than along pilus fibers. Furthermore, preventing exit of these proteins from the periplasm by fusing them to the mCherry protein did not alter their function. Deletion of the pilV and pilX genes led to a decrease in the number, but not length, of pili displayed on the bacterial surface indicating a role in the initiation of pilus biogenesis. By finely regulating the expression of a central component of the piliation machinery, we show that the modest reductions in the number of pili are sufficient to recapitulate the phenotypes of the pilV and pilX mutants. We further show that specific type IV pili-dependent functions require different ranges of pili numbers.

Indexed as

Host-Pathogen InteractionsBacterial AdhesionBacterial ProteinsFimbriae, BacterialFimbriae ProteinsGene DeletionHumansHuman Umbilical Vein Endothelial CellsMutationNeisseria meningitidisPeriplasmRecombinant Fusion ProteinsBacterial ProteinsFimbriae ProteinsPilV protein, BacteriaRecombinant Fusion Proteinsadhesioninfectious diseasemeningitissepticemiatype IV pili

Identifiers

PMID24864127
PMCPMC4195760
OpenAlexW2026157295

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.