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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Apr 6.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2017 Apr 6;169(2):273–285.e17. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.019

Figure 4. MlaC shuttles lipids across the periplasm.

Figure 4

(A) MlaC is encoded in the mla operon but not stably present in the MlaFEDB complex.

(B) Crystal structure of MlaC reveals a mixed α/β fold with 4 β-strands (light blue) and 7 α-helices (dark blue). MlaC-bound lipid shown as spheres.

(C) Cut away view of MlaC surface, revealing deep hydrophobic pocket that binds the two “tails” of a lipid.

(D) Unbiased 2Fo-Fc electron density map for bound lipid, contoured at 1 σ.

(E) MlaC makes no significant interactions with the lipid head group.

(F and G) MlaC interacts with the IM MlaFEDB complex (F) and the OM MlaA-OmpF complex (G), suggesting MlaC may ferry lipid substrates between these IM and OM complexes.