Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38886579›Full record

ArticleThe EMBO journal2024

Cryo-EM structure of a conjugative type IV secretion system suggests a molecular switch regulating pilus biogenesis.

Kévin Macé, Gabriel Waksman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The EMBO journal, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

12 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Transcriptomic Analysis of the Impact of theAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025
    Article
  8. Review
  9. Species-specific components of theInfection and immunity · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. ThemicroLife · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Kévin MacéInstitute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK. kevin.mace@univ-rennes.fr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9853-0565
Gabriel WaksmanInstitute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK. g.waksman@bbk.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0708-2726

Funding

Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 098302Wellcome Trust 202679Wellcome Trust 206166Wellcome Trust 217089
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Conjugative type IV secretion systems (T4SS) mediate bacterial conjugation, a process that enables the unidirectional exchange of genetic materials between a donor and a recipient bacterial cell. Bacterial conjugation is the primary means by which antibiotic resistance genes spread among bacterial populations (Barlow 2009; Virolle et al, 2020). Conjugative T4SSs form pili: long extracellular filaments that connect with recipient cells. Previously, we solved the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of a conjugative T4SS. In this article, based on additional data, we present a more complete T4SS cryo-EM structure than that published earlier. Novel structural features include details of the mismatch symmetry within the OMCC, the presence of a fourth VirB8 subunit in the asymmetric unit of both the arches and the inner membrane complex (IMC), and a hydrophobic VirB5 tip in the distal end of the stalk. Additionally, we provide previously undescribed structural insights into the protein VirB10 and identify a novel regulation mechanism of T4SS-mediated pilus biogenesis by this protein, that we believe is a key checkpoint for this process.

Indexed as

Cryoelectron MicroscopyFimbriae, BacterialType IV Secretion SystemsBacterial ProteinsConjugation, GeneticEscherichia coliModels, MolecularProtein ConformationBacterial ProteinsType IV Secretion SystemsAntibiotic ResistanceBacterial ConjugationCryo-EMT4SSType IV Secretion System

Identifiers

PMID38886579
PMCPMC11294453

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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.