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DOE OSTI · 2377758

Dynamic structural determinants in bacterial microcompartment shells

Trettel, Daniel Stephen·Kerfeld, Cheryl A.·Gonzalez Esquer, Cesar Raul
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Abstract

Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) are polyhedral structures that segregate enzymatic cargo from the cytosol via encapsulation within a protein shell. Unlike other biological polyhedra, such as viral capsids and encapsulins, BMC shells can exhibit a highly advantageous structural and functional plasticity, conforming to a variety of anabolic (CO 2 fixation in carboxysomes) and catabolic (nutrient assimilation in metabolosomes) roles. Consequently, understanding the subunit properties and associated protein–protein interaction processes that guide shell assembly and function is a necessary step to fully harness BMCs as modular, biotechnological nanomachines. Here, we describe the recent insights into the dynamics of structural features of the key BMC domain (Pfam00936)-containing proteins, which serve as a structural template for BMC-H and BMC-T shell building blocks.

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Trettel, Daniel Stephen, Kerfeld, Cheryl A., Gonzalez Esquer, Cesar Raul. 2024-06-21. Dynamic structural determinants in bacterial microcompartment shells. https://doi.org/10.2172/2377758

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