A Periplasmic Polymer Curves Vibrio cholerae and Promotes Pathogenesis. Author Thomas Bartlett, Benjamin Bratton, Amit Duvshani, Amanda Miguel, Ying Sheng, Nicholas Martin, Jeffrey Nguyen, Alexandre Persat, Samantha Desmarais, Michael VanNieuwenhze, Kerwyn Huang, Jun Zhu, Joshua Shaevitz, Zemer Gitai Publication Year 2017 Type Journal Article Abstract Pathogenic Vibrio cholerae remains a major human health concern. V. cholerae has a characteristic curved rod morphology, with a longer outer face and a shorter inner face. The mechanism and function of this curvature were previously unknown. Here, we identify and characterize CrvA, the first curvature determinant in V. cholerae. CrvA self-assembles into filaments at the inner face of cell curvature. Unlike traditional cytoskeletons, CrvA localizes to the periplasm and thus can be considered a periskeletal element. To quantify how curvature forms, we developed QuASAR (quantitative analysis of sacculus architecture remodeling), which measures subcellular peptidoglycan dynamics. QuASAR reveals that CrvA asymmetrically patterns peptidoglycan insertion rather than removal, causing more material insertions into the outer face than the inner face. Furthermore, crvA is quorum regulated, and CrvA-dependent curvature increases at high cell density. Finally, we demonstrate that CrvA promotes motility in hydrogels and confers an advantage in host colonization and pathogenesis. Keywords Animals, Mice, Sequence Alignment, Bacterial Proteins, Vibrio cholerae, Amino Acid Sequence, Virulence, Locomotion, Peptidoglycan, Periplasm Journal Cell Volume 168 Issue 1-2 Pages 172-185.e15 Date Published 01/2017 ISSN Number 1097-4172 DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2016.12.019 Alternate Journal Cell PMCID PMC5287421 PMID 28086090 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML