ULB - Free University of Brussels
Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (BE1) · Belgium
ERC Starting Grant · 2025
Function, role, and control of gigantic bacterial roll
R-bodies are probably the largest organised intracellular proteinaceous structures in bacteria. They adopt a roll-like structure that occupies almost the entire cellular volume. Upon acidification, R-bodies extend telescopically up to 20 micrometres. First discovered in endosymbiotic bacteria, they were proposed to eliminate symbiont-free hosts, however their mechanism of toxicity remained unexplored. In addition, structures of similar composition and activity form ejectile defence organelles in Cryptomonads. Recently, we found that free-living environmental bacteria from the phylum Bacteroidota also produce R-bodies. In the Fun-ContRoll project we will study the assembly and conformational…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.