A porin‐type protein is the main constituent of the cell envelope of the ancestral eubacterium Thermotoga maritima

FEBS Letters

Baumeister, Wolfgang¹  Huber, Robert²  Engel, Alfred M.¹  Stetter, Karl-O.²  Rachel, Reinhard¹ 

[1] Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, D-8033 Martinsried b. München, FRG;Universität Regensburg, Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie, D-8400 Regensburg, FRG

关键词: Porin;    Bacterial outer membrane;    Evolution;    Electron microscopy;    Two-dimensional protein crystal;    (Thermotoga maritima);   

DOI  :  10.1016/0014-5793(90)80155-C

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Thermotoga maritima is an extremely thermophilic eubacterium and represents the deepest known branch and the most slowly evolving line within this kingdom. This bacterium possesses a sheath-like envelope which forms characteristic balloons (the ‘toga’) around the cell poles. We have shown by electron microscopy in conjunction with image processing and by biochemical analyses that this sheath is essentially an outer membrane. Its predominant 42 kDa protein, which is regularly arrayed in vivo, has all the characteristics of the trimeric porins known from the phylogenetically very distant proteobacteria. This was an unexpected finding, which has some interesting evolutionary implications.

【 授权许可】

Unknown