Bacterial pathogens use an injectisome to deliver virulence proteins into eukaryotic host cells. The bacterial flagellum and injectisome export their component proteins for self-assembly. These two systems show high structural similarities and are classified as the type III secretion system, but it remains elusive how similar they are in situ because the structures of these complexes isolated from cells and visualized by electron cryomicroscopy have shown only the export channel and housing for the export apparatus. Here we report in situ structures of Salmonella injectisome and flagellum by electron cryotomography. The injectisome lacks the flagellar basal body C-ring, but a wing-like disc and a globular density corresponding to the export gate platform and ATPase hexamer ring, respectively, are stably attached through thin connectors, revealing yet unidentified common architectures of the two systems. The ATPase ring is far from the disc, suggesting that both apparatuses are observed in an export-off state.

The genus Mycoplasma is made up of the smallest parasitic and sometimes commensal bacteria; Mycoplasma pneumoniae, which causes human “walking pneumonia,” is representative. More than ten Mycoplasma species glide on host tissues by novel mechanisms, always in the direction of the distal side of the machinery. Mycoplasma mobile, the fastest species in the genus, catches, pulls, and releases sialylated oligosaccharides (SOs), the carbohydrate molecules also targeted by influenza viruses, by means of a specific receptor and using ATP hydrolysis for energy. Here, the architecture of the gliding machinery was visualized three dimensionally by electron cryotomography (ECT), and changes in the structure and binding activity coupled to ATP hydrolysis were discovered. Based on the results, a refined mechanism was proposed for this unique motility.

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Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a pathogenic bacterium, glides on host surfaces using a unique mechanism. It forms an attachment organelle at a cell pole as a protrusion comprised of knoblike surface structures and an internal core. Here, we analyzed the three-dimensional structure of the organelle in detail by electron cryotomography. On the surface, knoblike particles formed a two-dimensional array, albeit with limited regularity. Analyses using a nonbinding mutant and an antibody showed that the knoblike particles correspond to a naplike structure that has been observed by negative-staining electron microscopy and is likely to be formed as a complex of P1 adhesin, the key protein for binding and gliding. The paired thin and thick plates feature a rigid hexagonal lattice and striations with highly variable repeat distances, respectively. The combination of variable and invariant structures in the internal core and the P1 adhesin array on the surface suggest a model in which axial extension and compression of the thick plate along a rigid thin plate is coupled with attachment to and detachment from the substrate during gliding.