Number of fimbrin monomers/fimbria

Range 1,200 to 2,400 Unitless
Organism Bacteria Escherichia coli
Reference Low et al., Fimbriae chapter 11 in E. coli and Salmonella ed. Neidhardt, 1st paragraph in the chapter. p.5 of 21 pages, bottom paragraph
Comments "Pap fimbriae are composite structures consisting of a long, rigid base section and a short, flexible, open helical structure (ref 78). The rigid section is composed mostly of the PapA fimbrin subunit arranged in a tightly packed right-handed helix (Fig. 1). X-ray fiber diffraction analysis indicates that Pap fimbriae contain 3.2 fimbrin subunits per turn of the helix and have a helical pitch of 2.4 nm (refs 25, 66). These fimbriae are about 7 nm in diameter with a central axial hole of 1.5 nm in diameter. Since these fimbriae usually extend about 1 to 2 µm away from the bacterial cell surface, a single rigid fiber is composed of about 1,200 to 2,400 fimbrin monomers."
Entered by Ron Milo, Paul Jorgensen, Mike Springer
ID 100107