Global S&T Development Trend Analysis Platform of Resources and Environment
The authors report near-atomic resolution structures of the R-type bacteriocin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the pre-contraction and post-contraction states, and these structures provide insight into the mechanism of action of molecular syringes.
R-type bacteriocins are minimal contractile nanomachines that hold promise as precision antibiotics(1-4). Each bactericidal complex uses a collar to bridge a hollow tube with a contractile sheath loaded in a metastable state by a baseplate scaffold(1,2). Fine-tuning of such nucleic acid-free protein machines for precision medicine calls for an atomic description of the entire complex and contraction mechanism, which is not available from baseplate structures of the (DNA-containing) T4 bacteriophage(5). Here we report the atomic model of the complete R2 pyocin in its pre-contraction and post-contraction states, each containing 384 subunits of 11 unique atomic models of 10 gene products. Comparison of these structures suggests the following sequence of events during pyocin contraction: tail fibres trigger lateral dissociation of baseplate triplexes
The lithified lower oceanic crust is one of Earth'
Protein structure prediction can be used to determine the three-dimensional shape of a protein from its amino acid sequence(1). This problem is of fundamental importance as the structure of a protein largely determines its function(2)
To address global challenges(1-4), 193 countries have committed to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)(5). Quantifying progress towards achieving the SDGs is essential to track global efforts towards sustainable development and guide policy development and implementation. However, systematic methods for assessing spatio-temporal progress towards achieving the SDGs are lacking. Here we develop and test systematic methods to quantify progress towards the 17 SDGs at national and subnational levels in China. Our analyses indicate that China'