PilMNOPQ from the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Type IV Pilus System Form a Transenvelope Protein Interaction Network That Interacts with PilA
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pili (T4P) are virulence factors that promote infection of cystic fibrosis and immunosuppressed patients. As the absence of T4P impairs colonization, they are attractive targets for the development of novel therapeutics. Genes in the pilMNOPQ operon are important for both T4P assembly and a form of bacterial movement, called twitching motility, that is required for pathogenicity. The type II membrane proteins, PilN and PilO, dimerize via their periplasmic domains and anchor this complex in the inner membrane. Our earlier work showed that PilNO binds PilP, a periplasmic lipoprotein (S. Tammam, L. M. Sampaleanu, J. Koo, P. Sundaram, M. Ayers, P. A. Chong, J. D. Forman-Kay, L. L. Burrows, and P. L. Howell, Mol. Microbiol. 82:1496-1514, 2011). Here, we show that PilP interacts with the N0 segment of the outer membrane secretin PilQ via its C-terminal domain, and that the N-terminal cytoplasmic tail of PilN binds to the actin-like protein PilM, thereby connecting all cellular compartments via the PilMNOPQ protein interaction network. We show that PilA, the major pilin subunit, interacts with PilNOPQ. The results allow us to propose a model whereby PilA makes extensive contacts with the transenvelope complex, possibly to increase local concentrations of PilA monomers for polymerization. The PilNOP complex could provide a stable anchor in the inner membrane, while the PilMNOPQ transenvelope complex facilitates transit of the pilus through the periplasm and clamps the pilus in the cell envelope. The PilMN interaction is proposed to be responsible for communicating signals from the cytoplasmic to periplasmic components of this complex macromolecular machine.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".