title: Signal peptide of FadA adhesin from Fusobacterium nucleatum plays a novel structural role by modulating the filament's length and width.
abstract: FadA, a novel adhesin of periodontal pathogen Fusobacterium nucleatum is composed of two forms, pre-FadA and mature FadA (mFadA), constituting the functional FadA complex (FadAc). By electron microscopy, we observed that mFadA formed uniformly long and thin filaments, while FadAc formed heterogeneous filaments of varying lengths and widths, as well as "knots". Mutants in signal peptide or in the non-alpha-helical loop retaining heterogeneous structures had binding activity while those forming aggregates or long filaments lost activity. These observations suggest short filaments and knots may be the active forms of FadA. This is the first demonstration that a signal peptide is required for the assembly of a bacterial adhesin.
authors: Department of Periodontics, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors: Stéphanie
authors: S
authors: Témoin
authors: Karen L
authors: KL
authors: Wu
authors: Vivian
authors: V
authors: Wu
authors: Menachem
authors: M
authors: Shoham
authors: Yiping W
authors: YW
authors: Han
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D016967:Fusobacterium nucleatum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; D006801:Humans; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009154:Mutation; D011487:Protein Conformation; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals