ArticlePLoS pathogens2016
The Vibrio cholerae Minor Pilin TcpB Initiates Assembly and Retraction of the Toxin-Coregulated Pilus.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structures of the Xcp and Hxc T2SS endopili provide new insights into type IV pili subfamilies.Structure (London, England : 1993) · 2026Article
- Insight into the relationship between type IV pilus function and biofilm formation.Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
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- Separation ofmBio · 2025Article
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- Costs and benefits of phytoplankton motility.ArXiv · 2025Article
- Conformational changes in the motor ATPase CpaF facilitate a rotary mechanism of Tad pilus assembly.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Type IV pili ofEcoSal Plus · 2024Review
- A bacterial sense of touch: T4P retraction motor as a means of surface sensing byJournal of bacteriology · 2024Review
- From isotopically labeled DNA to fluorescently labeled dynamic pili: building a mechanistic model of DNA transport to the cytoplasmic membrane.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2024Review
- Tad and toxin-coregulated pilus structures reveal unexpected diversity in bacterial type IV pili.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Mechanism of secretion of TcpF by theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- The PilT retraction ATPase promotes both extension and retraction of the MSHA type IVa pilus in Vibrio cholerae.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Structural basis for the toxin-coregulated pilus-dependent secretion ofScience advances · 2022Article
- Landmark Discoveries and Recent Advances in Type IV Pilus Research.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2022Review
- Motor-independent retraction of type IV pili is governed by an inherent property of the pilus filament.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- 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 · 2021Article
- Fresh Extension of Vibrio cholerae Competence Type IV Pili Predisposes Them for Motor-Independent Retraction.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2021Article
- The Role of Minor Pilins in Assembly and Function of the Competence Pilus ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- More than a feeling: microscopy approaches to understanding surface-sensing mechanisms.Journal of bacteriology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Type IV pilus (T4P) systems are complex molecular machines that polymerize major pilin proteins into thin filaments displayed on bacterial surfaces. Pilus functions require rapid extension and depolymerization of the pilus, powered by the assembly and retraction ATPases, respectively. A set of low abundance minor pilins influences pilus dynamics by unknown mechanisms. The Vibrio cholerae toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) is among the simplest of the T4P systems, having a single minor pilin TcpB and lacking a retraction ATPase. Here we show that TcpB, like its homolog CofB, initiates pilus assembly. TcpB co-localizes with the pili but at extremely low levels, equivalent to one subunit per pilus. We used a micropillars assay to demonstrate that TCP are retractile despite the absence of a retraction ATPase, and that retraction relies on TcpB, as a V. cholerae tcpB Glu5Val mutant is fully piliated but does not induce micropillars movements. This mutant is impaired in TCP-mediated autoagglutination and TcpF secretion, consistent with retraction being required for these functions. We propose that TcpB initiates pilus retraction by incorporating into the growing pilus in a Glu5-dependent manner, which stalls assembly and triggers processive disassembly. These results provide a framework for understanding filament dynamics in more complex T4P systems and the closely related Type II secretion system.
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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.