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Figure 1 | Microbial Cell Factories

Figure 1

From: Self-assembling, protein-based intracellular bacterial organelles: emerging vehicles for encapsulating, targeting and delivering therapeutical cargoes

Figure 1

Model for the hierarchical assembly of a typical bacterial microcompartment. The facets of these icosahedral nano-cages are made of one type of protein (in light blue) that further self-assemble to give hexamers. On the other hand, the vertices are formed by pentamers resulting of the self-assembly of a different protein (in orange). Pores allowing traficking of molecules are located at the center of each hexamer and pentamer. Sizes can range from 20-25 nm for the encapsulin shell to 100-150 nm for carboxysomes.

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Microbial Cell Factories

ISSN: 1475-2859

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