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Cellular microbiology

Organizing the OM

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 2, page 855 (2004)Cite this article

Pili and flagella are often localized on the cell surface — laterally, peritrichously or at the poles — but this doesn't indicate OM organization because these appendages are anchored in the periplasm and cytoplasm. To date, information about the organization of intrinsic OM proteins is scarce, and previous studies probing OM protein distribution used fixation techniques that extract proteins from the OM and therefore distort results.

LamB is an integral OM protein that imports maltose and functions as the lambda phage receptor. Gibbs et al. analysed the distribution of LamB in Escherichia coli cells and tracked protein movement using time-lapse microscopy of individual cells. First, lambda phage tails that were covalently hooked up to a fluorophore were used to probe LamB distribution. Almost 40% of cells contained LamB spirals, whereas the remaining cells had bipolar distribution patterns or irregular spirals — none of the cells had uniformly distributed LamB. Tracking LamB movement in single cells showed that a subset of LamB redistributes every 20 seconds along the full cell length, so that LamB spirals are dynamic.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Gibbs, K. A. et al. Complex spatial distribution and dynamics of an abundant Escherichia coli outer membrane protein. Mol. Microbiol. 53, 1771–1783 (2004)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Young, K. D. Bacterial shape. Mol. Microbiol. 49, 571–580 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Susan Jones
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Jones, S. Organizing the OM. Nat Rev Microbiol 2, 855 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1039

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