2021
Structure of Geobacter pili reveals secretory rather than nanowire behaviour
Gu Y, Srikanth V, Salazar-Morales AI, Jain R, O’Brien J, Yi SM, Soni RK, Samatey FA, Yalcin SE, Malvankar NS. Structure of Geobacter pili reveals secretory rather than nanowire behaviour. Nature 2021, 597: 430-434. PMID: 34471289, PMCID: PMC9127704, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03857-w.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsExtracellular electron transferType 4 piliElectron transferProtein nanowiresCryo-electron microscopyNanowiresNanowire behaviorGeobacter piliC-terminal residuesTranslocation machineryAssembly architectureLoss of secretionMajor phylaGeobacter speciesPrevious structural analysisSurface appendagesGeobacter sulfurreducensAromatic side chainsPiliPilAΠ stackingWidespread effectsBioelectronicsMicroorganismsFilaments
2020
Electric field stimulates production of highly conductive microbial OmcZ nanowires
Yalcin SE, O’Brien J, Gu Y, Reiss K, Yi SM, Jain R, Srikanth V, Dahl PJ, Huynh W, Vu D, Acharya A, Chaudhuri S, Varga T, Batista VS, Malvankar NS. Electric field stimulates production of highly conductive microbial OmcZ nanowires. Nature Chemical Biology 2020, 16: 1136-1142. PMID: 32807967, PMCID: PMC7502555, DOI: 10.1038/s41589-020-0623-9.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsConductive protein nanowiresIndividual nanowiresProtein nanowiresElectronic functionalityNanowiresElectric fieldGeobacter sulfurreducens biofilmsHigh conductivityMost natural materialsHigh stiffnessElectrical signalsBidirectional interfaceElectronic systemsLiving materialsNatural materialsΠ stackingSpectroscopic studiesEnergy productionNanospectroscopyConductivityStiffnessConformational switchingΒ-sheetHeme groupSensing