Roll out the barrel! Outer membrane tension resolves an unexpected folding intermediate.

Horne, Jim E; Radford, Sheena E · Cell · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

How do bacteria assemble transmembrane β-barrels into their outer membrane in the absence of an energy source? New structures and experiments from Doyle et al. suggest that the β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) co-opts the power of membrane elastic tension to help complete the folding of β-barrel outer membrane proteins.

Medical subject headings