Unfolding Individual Als5p Adhesion Proteins on Live Cells

Overview

Journal ACS Nano

Publisher American Chemical Society

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2009 Jun 19

PMID 19534503

Citations 31

Authors

David Alsteens

Vincent Dupres

Stephen A Klotz

Nand K Gaur

Peter N Lipke

Yves F Dufrene

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Elucidating the molecular mechanisms behind the strength and mechanics of cell adhesion proteins is of central importance in cell biology and offers exciting avenues for the identification of potential drug targets. Here we use single-molecule force spectroscopy to investigate the adhesive and mechanical properties of the widely expressed Als5p cell adhesion protein from the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans . We show that the forces required to unfold individual tandem repeats of the protein are in the 150-250 pN range, both on isolated molecules and on live cells. We also find that the unfolding probability increases with the number of tandem repeats and correlates with the level of cell adherence. We suggest that the modular and flexible nature of Als5p conveys both strength and toughness to the protein, making it ideally suited for cell adhesion. The single-molecule measurements presented here open new avenues for understanding the mechanical properties of adhesion molecules from mammalian and microbial cells and may help us to elucidate their potential implications in diseases such as inflammation, cancer, and infection.

Citing Articles

Structure and Conservation of Amyloid Spines From the Als5 Adhesin.

Golan N, Schwartz-Perov S, Landau M, Lipke P Front Mol Biosci. 2022; 9:926959.

PMID: 35874616 PMC: 9306254. DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.926959.

Fibronectin binding protein B binds to loricrin and promotes corneocyte adhesion by Staphylococcus aureus.

Da Costa T, Viljoen A, Towell A, Dufrene Y, Geoghegan J Nat Commun. 2022; 13(1):2517.

PMID: 35523796 PMC: 9076634. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30271-1.

Cell-Cell Mating Interactions: Overview and Potential of Single-Cell Force Spectroscopy.

Lipke P, Rauceo J, Viljoen A Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 23(3).

PMID: 35163034 PMC: 8835621. DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031110.

Quantification of the Adhesion Strength of to Tooth Enamel.

Gunaratnam G, Dudek J, Jung P, Becker S, Jacobs K, Bischoff M Microorganisms. 2021; 9(11).

PMID: 34835339 PMC: 8624353. DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9112213.

Microbial adhesion and ultrastructure from the single-molecule to the single-cell levels by Atomic Force Microscopy.

Beaussart A, El-Kirat-Chatel S Cell Surf. 2020; 5:100031.

PMID: 32743147 PMC: 7389263. DOI: 10.1016/j.tcsw.2019.100031.

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