Institute of Microbiology

Emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants keeps slowing down

Abstract Background Although COVID-19 pandemic has no longer been classified as an international public health emergency of concern after May 2023, multiple variants with different characteristics keep emerging. Given the complex spatial-temporal characteristics of epidemics, res...

Mechanistic basis of LolDF-mediated lipoprotein transport in Acinetobacter

Lipoprotein trafficking is essential for Gram-negative bacteria to maintain the outer membrane, a permeability barrier critical for survival and antibiotic resistance. While most bacteria employ the canonical LolCDE transporter, Acinetobacter utilizes a noncanonical LolDF system...

Structural insights into a substrate translocation pathway revealed by the RND efflux pump complex MexJK from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Resistance–nodulation–cell division (RND) efflux pumps are the major cause of multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa . The inner membrane protein MexK from P. aeruginosa is a narrow-spectrum RND transporter. It assembles with membrane fusion protein MexJ and outer membran...