IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v493y2013i7431d10.1038_nature11744.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crystallographic snapshot of cellulose synthesis and membrane translocation

Author

Listed:
  • Jacob L. W. Morgan

    (Center for Membrane Biology, University of Virginia)

  • Joanna Strumillo

    (Center for Membrane Biology, University of Virginia
    Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Pilarskiego Street 14/16, 90-231 Lodz, Poland)

  • Jochen Zimmer

    (Center for Membrane Biology, University of Virginia)

Abstract

Cellulose, the most abundant biological macromolecule, is an extracellular, linear polymer of glucose molecules. It represents an essential component of plant cell walls but is also found in algae and bacteria. In bacteria, cellulose production frequently correlates with the formation of biofilms, a sessile, multicellular growth form. Cellulose synthesis and transport across the inner bacterial membrane is mediated by a complex of the membrane-integrated catalytic BcsA subunit and the membrane-anchored, periplasmic BcsB protein. Here we present the crystal structure of a complex of BcsA and BcsB from Rhodobacter sphaeroides containing a translocating polysaccharide. The structure of the BcsA–BcsB translocation intermediate reveals the architecture of the cellulose synthase, demonstrates how BcsA forms a cellulose-conducting channel, and suggests a model for the coupling of cellulose synthesis and translocation in which the nascent polysaccharide is extended by one glucose molecule at a time.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob L. W. Morgan & Joanna Strumillo & Jochen Zimmer, 2013. "Crystallographic snapshot of cellulose synthesis and membrane translocation," Nature, Nature, vol. 493(7431), pages 181-186, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:493:y:2013:i:7431:d:10.1038_nature11744
    DOI: 10.1038/nature11744
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11744
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature11744?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dan-Dan Chen & Zhao-Bin Wang & Le-Xuan Wang & Peng Zhao & Cai-Hong Yun & Lin Bai, 2023. "Structure, catalysis, chitin transport, and selective inhibition of chitin synthase," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Itxaso Anso & Samira Zouhir & Thibault Géry Sana & Petya Violinova Krasteva, 2024. "Structural basis for synthase activation and cellulose modification in the E. coli Type II Bcs secretion system," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Shu-Chieh Chang & Mu-Rong Kao & Rebecka Karmakar Saldivar & Sara M. Díaz-Moreno & Xiaohui Xing & Valentina Furlanetto & Johannes Yayo & Christina Divne & Francisco Vilaplana & D. Wade Abbott & Yves S., 2023. "The Gram-positive bacterium Romboutsia ilealis harbors a polysaccharide synthase that can produce (1,3;1,4)-β-d-glucans," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Jaroslaw Sedzicki & Dongchun Ni & Frank Lehmann & Henning Stahlberg & Christoph Dehio, 2024. "Structure-function analysis of the cyclic β-1,2-glucan synthase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Preeti Verma & Ruoya Ho & Schuyler A. Chambers & Lynette Cegelski & Jochen Zimmer, 2024. "Insights into phosphoethanolamine cellulose synthesis and secretion across the Gram-negative cell envelope," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:493:y:2013:i:7431:d:10.1038_nature11744. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.