%0 Journal Article
%T Ordered and Ushered; the Assembly and Translocation of the Adhesive Type I and P Pili
%A James Lillington
%A Gabriel Waksman
%J Biology
%D 2013
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/biology2030841
%X Type I and P pili are chaperone-usher pili of uropathogenic Escherichia coli, which allow bacteria to adhere to host cell receptors. Pilus formation and secretion are orchestrated by two accessory proteins, a chaperone, which catalyses pilus subunit folding and maintains them in a polymerization-competent state, and an outer membrane-spanning nanomachine, the usher, which choreographs their assembly into a pilus and drives their secretion through the membrane. In this review, recent structures and kinetic studies are combined to examine the mechanism of type I and P pili assembly, as it is currently known. We also investigate how the knowledge of pilus biogenesis mechanisms has been exploited to design selective inhibitors of the process.
%K chaperone-usher pathway
%K type I and P pilus
%K chaperone
%K usher
%K donor-strand complementation
%K donor-strand exchange
%K pilicide
%U http://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/2/3/841