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Shamphavi Sivabalasarma

@sshamphavi.bsky.social
517 followers 1.3K following 28 posts

Postdoc in Navarro lab, DMF-UNIL,Switzerland Jumping between bacterial and archaeal domains with a microscope ❄️🔬#teamtomo

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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
Svetlana Dodonova @dodonova-sveta.bsky.social · 12h
New preprint from Dodonova lab 🔔! Capturing multiple states by cryo-EM❄️, we show for the first time how archaeal RNA Polymerase engages a nucleosome and forms direct contacts with histones! 🧬 Great work by Gabriele & a fantastic collaboration with Dina Grohmann! 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
Simonetta Gribaldo @sgribaldo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Interested in #archaea, #methane, #cell-envelopes? New paper out @nature.com ! We discovered an enzyme that specifically cleaves the cell wall of methanogens, revealing a new chemical structure of archaeal peptidoglycan, 50 yrs after its first description www.nature.com/articles/s41... #MicroSky 🧵👇
nature.com
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Florent Waltz @florentwaltz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
... For the sponsoring the talk and poster prizes, that went to @fannyleblanc.bsky.social and Aurélien Gregor 🎊. And huge thanks to @sofie-dot-rec.bsky.social, @phaips.vd.st and Imre Gonda for teaching the workshop on sample prep, data collection and processing on the 2nd day. #cryoET #TeamTOMO
Poster prize to Fanny Le Blanc
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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ribosome profiling reveals translational dynamics between an archaeal virus and its host www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Molecular basis of N2 fixation in a hyperthermophilic archaeon www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
nature.com
Molecular basis of N2 fixation in a hyperthermophilic archaeon - Nature Communications
Nitrogenases are enzymes that convert atmospheric N2 into ammonia, thus providing bioavailable nitrogen to living organisms. Here, Maslać et al. describe a highly thermostable, simple nitrogenase from...
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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
Ricardo D. Righetto @lifeonthewedge.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A wild publishing ride to get here... but finally! (first bioRxiv: January 5th, 2024 🙃) Amazing work from @lorenzlamm.bsky.social and colleagues 🤗 Special thanks to the community who jumped early on the boat, sharing feedback and training data to make MemBrain v2 a reality 🙏🏽
nature.com
MemBrain v2: an end-to-end tool for the analysis of membranes in cryo-electron tomography - Nature Methods
MemBrain v2 enables streamlined analysis of membranes in cryo-electron tomography by providing user-friendly tools for membrane segmentation, membrane protein localization and spatial analysis, suppor...
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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
EMBL @embl.org · 03/09/2026
Congratulations to @florianwollweber.bsky.social, the recently appointed Group Leader at EMBL Grenoble, who received an ERC Starting Grant worth approximately €2 million to investigate the origins of eukaryotic cell complexity. bit.ly/4gNwEBk
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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Our new paper with @ckellison.bsky.social. is finally out! We identify an ancient and widely conserved mechanism that promotes initiation of fiber polymerization in type IV pili and type II secretion systems.
pnas.org
β-strand addition within tip initiation complexes licenses assembly of diverse type IV filaments | PNAS
PilC/PilY1 proteins are tip-located adhesins of type IV pili (T4P) that are critical for T4P function in diverse behaviors including twitching moti...
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Tanmay Bharat @tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Molecular architecture of colossal surface layers from hyperthermophilic archaea Led by @idocaspy.bsky.social (Ido) In collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @vikramalva.bsky.social labs doi.org/10.64898/202...
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Julia Meltzer @juliameltzer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Excited to share what I've been working on with an incredible team! Visualisation of Asgard viruses on cell surfaces and vesicles, and a story of complex viral interactions. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @brendanburns999.bsky.social @belindaferrari.bsky.social @xabivc.bsky.social
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Shamphavi Sivabalasarma @sshamphavi.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Hot, acidic and an endlessly fascinating archaeal model organism! Check out our review on Sulfolobus acidocaldarius🥳
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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
Pedro Leão @pedroleao.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The manuscript introducing ArchaeaHQ is still under review😴 As science can't wait... I'm making available a version of the dashboard we use. vee-lab.eu/archaeahq Here the user can have quick access to the information in the database, and select specific genomes of interest. Enjoy 🎉
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Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Two types of sheathed archaellum structures from Haloarcula marismortui differ in their outer layer architectures #microbiology #archaea #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Two types of sheathed archaellum structures from Haloarcula marismortui differ in their outer layer architectures - Nature Communications
Archaea can swim using rotating helical filaments called archaella. Here, Meshcheryakov et al. report that the cryo-EM structures of two types of archaella from Haloarcula marismortui display a unique...
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Reposted by Shamphavi Sivabalasarma
Brett Baker @archaeal.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Eukaryotic-like microtubules and dynamic instability of Asgard archaeal tubulins
Asgard archaeal mini microtubules suggest an archaeal origin of eukaryotic microtubules.
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bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Systematic identification of cell division proteins in haloarchaea and the discovery of a membrane anchor for the Z ring www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Gregor Weiss @weiss-lab.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Some bacteria do not live as individuals. They build multicellular filaments and connect neighboring cells through tiny cell-cell junctions. Cyanobacteria are among the most beautiful examples 😍 In our new paper, we reveal first molecuar insights on the cyanobacterial septal junction architecture 🧵
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Paula Navarro @navarropaula.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇
doi.org
The penicillin-binding protein PBP1b fortifies the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture - Nature Microbiology
A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.
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Alex Crits-Christoph @acritschristoph.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
ohhhhh man it is another amazing paper from @masarunobu.bsky.social that's a Microgenomates growing on a Chloroflexi:
Fig. 2 | Parasitic interaction between strain OT8 and host strain Mc4.
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Faculty of Biology - University of Freiburg @biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Diese ausführliche und äußerst informative Dokumentation zeigt, welche Rolle Stickstoffdünger in der Landwirtschaft spielen und wie die Arbeit von Thomas Ott und seinem Team dazu beiträgt, die Lebensmittelproduktion nachhaltiger zu machen. Schauen Sie doch mal rein! 🌱🍅🧪
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Svetlana Dodonova @dodonova-sveta.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Excited to share our new preprint! 🧬❄️ by brilliant @mdreimann.bsky.social and great collaborators! Using cryo-ET&EM, we reveal archaeal chromatin in a near-native state: variable-beads-on-a-string fibers shaped by growth phase and histone composition #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
A multilayered cell envelope of a member of the Chloroflexota offers an anchoring platform for the archaellum #microbiology #archaea #bacteria #MicroSky doi.org/10.3389/fmic...
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Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬 @pilhoferlab.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
🛠️💉It's time for engineering contractile injection systems! @chipericson.bsky.social & @davidschaumann.bsky.social introduce programmable CIS - PROCIS, combining tail length control, non-native cargo loading, and cell retargeting all in one system! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵 1/5
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BejaLabTechnion @bejalab.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Active virus-host system in a Lokiarchaeon culture www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.ac.uk · 26/05/2026
Led by Hannah Ochner, @tbharat-lab.bsky.social’s group have developed correlated #cryoEM & mass spectrometry imaging, capable of sub-cellular chemical mapping. With @kiranrpatil.bsky.social’s group, they have imaged the cellular uptake of forever chemicals. mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... #LMBResearch
Diagram showing cryo-FIB-SIMS technique
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Wei He (何炜) @weiwaer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
My first story about Archaea cell division comes out !!! A three protein system (Dip system) positions H. volcanii divisome to midcell. Dip system works like bacterial Min sytem, but they share NO sequence homology "All roads lead to Rome😊".
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Shamphavi Sivabalasarma @sshamphavi.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
How do archaea find mid cell? They invent their own new system! Check out the preprint and admire those beautiful fluorescence images of @weiwaer.bsky.social Happy to have been part of it🎉
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bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
A conserved oscillatory system that positions the divisome in Archaea www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Joshua Hamm @joshnhamm.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Our paper examining the evolution of halophily in DPANN is out now in MBE! academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
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cryoEM papers @cryoempapers.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Recent advances in integrative cryoEM/ET toward visualizing the molecular sociology of cellular organelles pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42134003/ #cryoEM
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Michael Wagner @michiwagner4.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Cool discovery. Hydrogenobodies in rumen protozoa support methanogenesis #MicroSky 🧪 #ArchaeaSky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Rumen ciliates modulate methane emissions in ruminants
Rumen ciliates are major contributors to enteric methane emissions from ruminant animals, yet the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We present a catalog of 450 rumen ciliate genomes, wit...
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Archaea Biology Vienna @archaea-vienna.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Do biofilms give an ecological advantage? Yes! A fantastic follow-up to our previous biofilm work in ammonia-oxidizing archaea: "Biofilm Lifestyle Drives Ecophysiological Niche Expansion in an Archaeal Soil Nitrifier" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Congratulations to all authors! #archaea
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Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Some archaea like coffee too 🤓☕️ Using coffee waste as feedstock for continuous cultivation of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius #microbiology #archaea #coffee #Sulfolobus #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Using coffee waste as feedstock for continuous cultivation of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius
Sulfolobus acidocaldarius is a thermoacidophilic archaeon with high potential for robust continuous bioprocesses under extreme conditions. In this stu…
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Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Do #archaea and #bacteria follow the same evolutionary "rules" when moving into a host🧐? Our latest study shows striking parallels in how intestinal and endosymbiotic archaea evolved compared to bacteria! #microbiology #methanogens @microbiomej.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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Sonja-Verena Albers @archaellum.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Indeed, a lot of fun, and I would have not thought that I would publish anything about the bindosome ever again! 😁
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Shamphavi Sivabalasarma @sshamphavi.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
You ever wondered whether your favorite archaeon has a surface structure or even an archaellum? Say no more! We screened for the presence of archaeal TFF machineries in all archaeal phyla and help you with that! Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/n)
biorxiv.org
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BejaLabTechnion @bejalab.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Bridging the membrane lipid divide: bacteria of the FCB group superphylum have the potential to synthesize archaeal ether lipids pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
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Martin Loose @nartimsoole.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Now out in its final form! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Science | AAAS
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Tomas Pascoa @tomaspascoa.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
1/ Excited to share our preprint! 🥳 Degradation of aromatic compounds, including BTEX pollutants, requires highly endergonic aromatic ring reduction. Using #cryoEM and in situ #cryoET, we show how BCRII couples electron bifurcation modules in one giant redox machine www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Anuj @rnfr2d2.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
How do “LEGO-like” electron-bifurcating modules combine to drive degradation in BTEX-contaminated ecosystems? Check out our latest preprint, where we use cryo-EM and cryo-ET to reveal how the 1 MDa BCRII complex powers extremely endergonic aromatic ring reduction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Debnath Ghosal @debnathghosal.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
One of biggest mysteries in biology: how did complex eukaryotic cells evolve from simple microbes? ~1.8 billion years ago, an archaeal cell likely merged with a bacterium to form the first eukaryotic cell, but can we ever find direct evidence of this transformative event? 🦠 🚶‍♂️
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Robert Grosse @ grosselab @grosselab.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Hong's @bdyxwh.bsky.social paper is out with help from @sshamphavi.bsky.social and @archaellum.bsky.social. We discovered a link between nuclear actin and YAP/TAZ: G-actin forms a complex with YAP-TEAD for transcription. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
academic.oup.com
Regulation of YAP activity by nuclear G-actin binding
Abstract. The Yes-associated protein YAP belongs to the TEAD (TEA/ATTS domain) transcriptional co-activators that shuttle between the cytoplasm and the nuc
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Eduardo Rocha @epcrocha.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Horizontal gene transfer is often depicted as a process distributing pre-existing functions to novel genetic backgrounds. Yet HGT can also increase the rate of functional innovation after transfer. Here's a brief review on the topic: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... #evosky #microsky
ecoevorxiv.org
From Trading Genes to Crafting New Tricks: How Horizontal Gene Transfer Potentiates the Emergence of Novel Functions
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Archaea Biology Vienna @archaea-vienna.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Our Review Article is online! We are happy to share our summary about molecular and cellular biological discoveries in archaea that have long foreshadowed a close relationship to eukaryotes, which is now so well manifested in the Asgard archaea. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Asgard archaea: have we found our microbial ancestors? - The EMBO Journal
The discovery of Asgard archaea about a decade ago has greatly reshaped our understanding of archaeal evolution and the origin of eukaryotes. Asgards are currently thought to be the closest prokaryoti...
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Stephan Köstlbacher @stephkoe.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
🧵 1/10 New paper out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com from my postdoc at @mib-wur.bsky.social! 🎉 How eukaryote-like was the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes? Sequence searches alone can't tell us — so we used protein structure prediction to look deeper. 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling - Nature Microbiology
A structural catalogue of the Asgard archaeal pangenome reveals hundreds of eukaryotic-like proteins that suggest a higher degree of cellular complexity in the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes.
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Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
nature.com
Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling - Nature Microbiology
A structural catalogue of the Asgard archaeal pangenome reveals hundreds of eukaryotic-like proteins that suggest a higher degree of cellular complexity in the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes.
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Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea #microbiology #archaea #eukaryotes #evolution #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky @natrevmicro.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea - Nature Reviews Microbiology
The Asgard archaea have become a cornerstone of archaeal research, particularly for studies aiming to unravel the origin and early evolution of eukaryotes. This Review outlines the current state of th...
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Yves Brun lab @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
🧵 Proud to present a tour de force by postdoc @gregbwhitfield.bsky.social solving the mystery of how bacterial Tad pili can extend and retract with a single motor ATPase. Great collaboration with Lynne Howell, @dr-lori-burrows.bsky.social, @ianyyen.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Vikram Alva @vikramalva.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Very cool work led by @diorgeps.bsky.social from the labs of @archaeon-alex.bsky.social & Joey Davis (MIT)! They solved the Haloferax volcanii ribosome and characterize AHA, a conserved archaeal hibernation factor. With several recent related preprints, it’s an exciting moment for the field!
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Kathryn (Katy) Appler @katyappler.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Beyond thrilled to share that our study has been published! This project encompasses years of work, including my thesis research on Asgard archaea in the @archaeal.bsky.social lab at @utmsi.bsky.social and @texasscience.bsky.social!!! #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky 1/12
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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Here's the preprint. Looking forward to seeing what the type 4 filament community thinks! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 20/20
β-strand complementation within tip initiation complexes licenses assembly of diverse type IV filaments

SIGNIFICANCE
Prokaryotic type IV filaments are ancient, diverse, and broadly distributed nanomachines that
assemble and retract to execute diverse microbial functions. They include type IV pili and type II
secretion systems, mediating toxin secretion, motility, surface adhesion, biofilm formation, DNA
uptake, and other functions. Here, we show that two widely conserved subunits of the tip, PilI
and PilJ, form a module that recognizes the folding of a β-sheet in a third subunit, PilK. The final
β-strand in this sheet can be supplied in trans by the last ~10 aminoacyl residues of large
PilC/PilY1 adhesins, or in cis by PilK itself. In a working model, this recognition results in
formation of a PilIJK trimer, which then licenses fiber polymerization through a templating
mechanism.
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