The University of Sheffield
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Cryoelectron microscopy - Membrane Proteins, Macromolecular Assemblies, Spore Assembly

Prof P A Bullough
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Our laboratory focuses on two challenging areas of structural biology - membrane proteins and very large macromolecular complexes. Our main technique is high resolution cryoelectron microscopy which we often use to complement other structural techniques such as X-ray crystallography.

 

Current projects fall under the following main headings:
  1. Structure and assembly of large protein complexes at two dimensional interfaces- bacterials spore assembly, photosynthetic proteins, bacterial toxins.
  2. Energy transduction in membrane systems - photosynthesis, transporters.
  3. Electron microscopy of macromolecular assemblies.

 

We have facilities for electron microscopy at the highest possible resolutions (near atomic)

 

A model of the surface of a spore from the family of Bacillus cereus bacteriaFigure Legend - A model of the surface of a spore from the family of Bacillus cereus bacteria, which includes the anthrax pathogen Bacillus anthracis. In B. anthracis the spore is the infectious agent and it is this surface that is targeted towards the host cell. Much of this surface has been visualised in molecular detail for the first time.

Selected Publications
Surface architecture of endospores of the Bacillus cereus/anthracis/thuringiensis family at the subnanometer scale, Kailas, L., Terry, C., Abbott, N., Taylor, R., Mullin, N., Tzokov, S.B., Todd, S.J., Wallace, B.A., Hobbs, J.K., Moir, A. and Bullough, P.A., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108 (2011) 16014-16019.
Structure of the exosporium and sublayers of spores of the Bacillus cereus family revealed by electron crystallography, Ball, D.A., Taylor, R., Todd, S.J., Redmond, C., Couture-Tosi, E., Sylvestre, P., Moir, M. and Bullough, P.A., Mol. Microbiol. 68 (2008) 947-958.
The crystal structure of the Escherichia coli AmtB-GlnK complex reveals how GlnK regulates the ammonia channel, M.J. Conroy, A. Durand, D. Lupo, X.-D. Li, P.A. Bullough, F.K. Winkler and M. Merrick, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104 (2007) 1213-1218.
Structure of the hemolysin E (HlyE, ClyA, and SheA) channel in its membrane-bound form, S.B. Tzokov, N.R. Wyborn, T.J. Stillman, S. Jamieson, N. Czudnochowski, P.J. Artymiuk, J. Green and P.A. Bullough, J. Biol. Chem. 281 (2006) 23042-23049.
Electron and atomic force microscopy of the trimeric ammonium transporter AmtB. M.J. Conroy, S.J. Jamieson, D. Blakey, T. Kaufmann, A. Engel, D. Fotiadis, M. Merrick and P.A. Bullough, EMBO Reports (2004) 5 1153-1157.
The native architecture of a photosynthetic membrane. Bahatyrova, R.N. Frese, C.A. Siebert, J.D. Olsen, K.O. van der Werf, R. van Grondelle, R.A. Niederman, P.A. Bullough, C. Otto, C.N. Hunter, Nature (2004) 430 1058-1062.
Molecular architecture of photosynthetic membranes in Rhodobacter sphaeroides : the role of PufX C.A. Siebert, P. Qian, D. Fotiadis, A. Engel, C. N. Hunter and P.A. Bullough, EMBO J. (2004) 23 690-700.
Projection structure of the photosynthetic reaction centre-antenna complex of Rhodospirillum rubrum at 8.5 Å resolution. S.J. Jamieson, P. Wang, P. Qian, J.Y. Kirkland, M.J. Conroy, C. N. Hunter and P.A. Bullough. EMBO J. (2002) 15 3927-3935.
E. coli Hemolysin E (HlyE, ClyA, SheA): X-ray Crystal Structure of the Toxin and Observation of Membrane Pores by Electron Microscopy. A.J. Wallace, T.J. Stillman, A. Atkins, S.J. Jamieson, P.A. Bullough, J. Green and P.J. Artymiuk. Cell (2000) 100, 265-276.
8.5 A projection map of the light harvesting complex of Rhodospirillum rubrum reveals a ring composed of 16 Subunits. Simone Karrasch, Per A. Bullough and Robin Ghosh. EMBO J. (1995) 14, 631-638.
The structure of influenza haemagglutinin at the pH of membrane fusion. Per A. Bullough, Frederick M. Hughson, John J. Skehel and Don C. Wiley. Nature (1994) 371, 37-43.