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"Internal structure of Mycoplasma mobile gliding machinery analyzed by negative staining electron tomography" by Minoru Fukushima, Takuma Toyonaga, Yuhei O. Tahara, Daisuke Nakane, Makoto Miyata is published in BPPB as the J-STAGE Advance Publication.

2024 May 28 BPPB

A following article is published as the J-STAGE Advance Publication in "Biophysics and Physicobiology".

Minoru Fukushima, Takuma Toyonaga, Yuhei O. Tahara, Daisuke Nakane, Makoto Miyata
"Internal structure of Mycoplasma mobile gliding machinery analyzed by negative staining electron tomography"

URL:https://doi.org/10.2142/biophysico.bppb-v21.0015


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Abstract
Mycoplasma mobile is a parasitic bacterium that forms gliding machinery on the cell pole and glides on a solid surface in the direction of the cell pole. The gliding machinery consists of both internal and surface structures. The internal structure is divided into a bell at the front and chain structure extending from the bell. In this study, the internal structures prepared under several conditions were analyzed using negative-staining electron microscopy and electron tomography. The chains were constructed by linked motors containing two complexes similar to ATP synthase. A cylindrical spacer with a maximum diameter of 6 nm and a height of 13 nm, and anonymous linkers with a diameter of 0.9–8.3 nm and length of 14.7±6.9 nm were found between motors. The bell is bowl-shaped and features a honeycomb surface with a periodicity of 8.4 nm. The chains of the motor are connected to the rim of the bell through a wedge-shaped structure. These structures may play roles in the assembly and cooperation of gliding machinery units.



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