uncoiling mechanics of escherichia coli type i fimbriae are optimized for catch bonds大肠杆菌i型菌毛的开卷力学优化债券.pdfVIP

PLoS BIOLOGY Uncoiling Mechanics of Escherichia coli Type I Fimbriae Are Optimized for Catch Bonds 1 2 3 2* 1* Manu Forero , Olga Yakovenko , Evgeni V. Sokurenko , Wendy E. Thomas , Viola Vogel 1 Department of Materials, Laboratory for Biologically Oriented Materials, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2 Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, 3 Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America We determined whether the molecular structures through which force is applied to receptor–ligand pairs are tuned to optimize cell adhesion under flow. The adhesive tethers of our model system, Escherichia coli, are type I fimbriae, which are anchored to the outer membrane of most E. coli strains. They consist of a fimbrial rod (0.3–1.5 lm in length) built from a helically coiled structural subunit, FimA, and an adhesive subunit, FimH, incorporated at the fimbrial tip. Previously reported data suggest that FimH binds to mannosylated ligands on the surfaces of host cells via catch bonds that are enhanced by the shear-originated tensile force. To understand whether the mechanical properties of the fimbrial rod regulate the stability of the FimH–mannose bond, we pulled the fimbriae via a mannosylated tip of an atomic force microscope. Individual fimbriae rapidly elongate for up to 10 lm at forces above 60 pN and rapidly contract again at forces below 25 pN. At intermediate forces, fimbriae change length more slowly, and discrete 5.0 6 0.3–nm changes in length can be observed, consistent with uncoiling and coiling of the helical quaternary st