Latest Publications
Structure of the Native Chemotaxis Core Signalling Unit from E-gene lysed E. coli cells
CK Cassidy, Zhuan Qin, Thomas Frosio, Khoosheh Gosink, Zhengyi Yang, Mark Sansom, Phillip Stansfeld, John Parkinson, and Peijun Zhang
The sensory apparatus of the chemotaxis pathway is an array of core-signaling units (CSUs) composed of transmembrane chemoreceptors, the histidine kinase CheA and an adaptor protein, CheW. Although chemotaxis pathways represent the best understood signaling systems, a detailed mechanistic understanding of signal transduction has been hindered by the lack of a complete structural picture of the CSU and extended array. In this study, we present the structure of the complete CSU from phage ϕX174 E protein lysed Escherichia coli cells, determined using cryo-electron tomography and sub-tomogram averaging to 12-Å resolution. Our results provide new insight into previously poorly-resolved regions of the complex and offer a structural basis for designing new experiments to test mechanistic hypotheses.