title: Distribution, formation and regulation of gas vesicles.
abstract: A range of bacteria and archaea produce intracellular gas-filled proteinaceous structures that function as flotation devices in order to maintain a suitable depth in the aqueous environment. The wall of these gas vesicles is freely permeable to gas molecules and is composed of a small hydrophobic protein, GvpA, which forms a single-layer wall. In addition, several minor structural, accessory or regulatory proteins are required for gas vesicle formation. In different organisms, 8-14 genes encoding gas vesicle proteins have been identified, and their expression has been shown to be regulated by environmental factors. In this Review, I describe the basic properties of gas vesicles, the genes that encode them and how their production is regulated. I also discuss the function of these vesicles and the initial attempts to exploit them for biotechnological purposes.
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität Darmstadt, Fachbereich Biologie, Darmstadt, Germany. pfeifer@bio.tu.darmstadt.de
authors.forename: Felicitas
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pfeifer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D022162:Cytoplasmic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism*; D006217:Halobacterium / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D011506:Proteins; C038524:gas vesicle protein