Pradip Kumar Singh, Janay Little, Michael S Donnenberg
{"title":"Landmark Discoveries and Recent Advances in Type IV Pilus Research.","authors":"Pradip Kumar Singh, Janay Little, Michael S Donnenberg","doi":"10.1128/mmbr.00076-22","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Type IV pili (T4P) are retractable multifunctional nanofibers present on the surface of numerous bacterial and archaeal species. Their importance to microbiology is difficult to overstate. The scientific journey leading to our current understanding of T4P structure and function has included many innovative research milestones. Although multiple T4P reviews over the years have emphasized recent advances, we find that current reports often omit many of the landmark discoveries in this field. Here, we attempt to highlight chronologically the most important work on T4P, from the discovery of pili to the application of sophisticated contemporary methods, which has brought us to our current state of knowledge. As there remains much to learn about the complex machine that assembles and retracts T4P, we hope that this review will increase the interest of current researchers and inspire innovative progress.</p>","PeriodicalId":18520,"journal":{"name":"Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9491203/pdf/mmbr.00076-22.pdf","citationCount":"6","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1128/mmbr.00076-22","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 6
Abstract
Type IV pili (T4P) are retractable multifunctional nanofibers present on the surface of numerous bacterial and archaeal species. Their importance to microbiology is difficult to overstate. The scientific journey leading to our current understanding of T4P structure and function has included many innovative research milestones. Although multiple T4P reviews over the years have emphasized recent advances, we find that current reports often omit many of the landmark discoveries in this field. Here, we attempt to highlight chronologically the most important work on T4P, from the discovery of pili to the application of sophisticated contemporary methods, which has brought us to our current state of knowledge. As there remains much to learn about the complex machine that assembles and retracts T4P, we hope that this review will increase the interest of current researchers and inspire innovative progress.
期刊介绍:
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews (MMBR), a journal that explores the significance and interrelationships of recent discoveries in various microbiology fields, publishes review articles that help both specialists and nonspecialists understand and apply the latest findings in their own research. MMBR covers a wide range of topics in microbiology, including microbial ecology, evolution, parasitology, biotechnology, and immunology. The journal caters to scientists with diverse interests in all areas of microbial science and encompasses viruses, bacteria, archaea, fungi, unicellular eukaryotes, and microbial parasites. MMBR primarily publishes authoritative and critical reviews that push the boundaries of knowledge, appealing to both specialists and generalists. The journal often includes descriptive figures and tables to enhance understanding. Indexed/Abstracted in various databases such as Agricola, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts Service, Current Contents- Life Sciences, EMBASE, Food Science and Technology Abstracts, Illustrata, MEDLINE, Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science), Summon, and Scopus, among others.