3-D molecular syringes: Scientists solve structure of infection tool used by Yersinia bacterium

Abdominal pain, fever, diarrhoea—these symptoms could point to an infection with the bacterium Yersinia. The bacterium's pathogenic potential is based on a syringe-like injection apparatus called injectisome. For the first time, an international team of researchers including scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, has unraveled this molecular syringe's spatial conformation. The researchers were able to demonstrate that the length of Yersinia's injectisome's basal body, which crosses the bacterial cell wall, is adjustable—very likely an adaptation to physical stress.

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