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Structural biology: Baseplates in contractile machines

Nature Microbiology volume 1, Article number: 16104 (2016) Cite this article

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Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy is transforming our ability to study the most intimate details of supramolecular multi-protein complexes. The recently observed atomic structure of the T4 phage baseplate paves the way towards understanding the molecular dynamics of other contractile machines such as the bacterial type VI secretion system.

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Figure 1: Structure of contractile nanomachines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Alain Filloux is at the MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection (CMBI), Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.,

    Alain Filloux

  2. Department of Medicine, Paul Freemont is in the Section of Structural Biology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.,

    Paul Freemont

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  1. Alain Filloux
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  2. Paul Freemont
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Correspondence to Alain Filloux or Paul Freemont.

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Filloux, A., Freemont, P. Structural biology: Baseplates in contractile machines. Nat Microbiol 1, 16104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.104

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