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Gram-positive bacteria use reactive thioester-containing proteins to form covalent bonds, which may enable strong adhesion to host surfaces, but how these proteins selectively adhere to different surfaces is not clear. The Editors' Pick by Echelman et al. applied single-molecule force spectroscopy to show that an adhesin protein can regenerate its thioester in the absence of pulling. This selective interaction would represent a new principle of mechanical proof-reading, whereby only reactions supporting anchorage of the bacterium are maintained.

Original publication

DOI

10.1074/jbc.h117.777466

Type

Journal article

Journal

The Journal of biological chemistry

Publication Date

05/2017

Volume

292

Pages

8998 - 8999

Addresses

From the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, United Kingdom mark.howarth@bioch.ox.ac.uk.

Keywords

Streptococcus pyogenes, Adhesins, Bacterial, Bacterial Adhesion