Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Membrane-protein structure

Piercing insights

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Pore-forming proteins are deadly biological weapons that punch holes in target-cell membranes. The structure of the pore formed by a bacterial toxin suggests that diverse pore formers have similar assembly pathways.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Assembly of staphylococcal α-haemolysin and ClyA pores show common principles.

References

  1. Lacovache, I., van der Goot, F. G. & Pernot, L. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1778, 1611–1623 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Mueller, M., Grauschopf, U., Maier, T., Glockshuber, R. & Ban, N. Nature 459, 726–730 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Song, L. et al. Science 274, 1859–1866 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Heuck, A. P. et al. Biochemistry 40, 9065–9073 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Wallace, A. J. et al. Cell 100, 265–276 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. White, J. M., Delos, S. E., Brecher, M. & Schornberg, K. Crit. Rev. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 43, 189–219 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Dong, C. et al. Nature 444, 226–229 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Walker, B. et al. Chem. Biol. 2, 99–105 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Bayley, H., Jayasinghe, L. & Wallace, M. Nature Struct. Mol. Biol. 12, 385–386 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Eifler, N. et al. EMBO J. 25, 2652–2661 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Soltani, C. E., Hotze, E. M., Johnson, A. E. & Tweten, R. K. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 20226–20231 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Olson, R. & Gouaux, E. J. Mol. Biol. 350, 997–1016 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Rosado, C. J. et al. Cell. Microbiol. 10, 1765–1774 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Kafsack, B. F. et al. Science 323, 530–533 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Anderluh, G. & Lakey, J. H. Trends Biochem. Sci. 33, 482–490 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hagan Bayley is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK. hagan.bayley@chem.ox.ac.uk,

    Hagan Bayley

Authors
  1. Hagan Bayley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bayley, H. Piercing insights. Nature 459, 651–652 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459651a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459651a

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation