A disordered chlamydia protein binds the cytoskeleton protein actin by being partially ordered

What is it about?

Disordered proteins are proteins that have no defined structure, but are very flexible instead. Tarp, an essential protein for chlamydia infection, is disordered. As part of the infection process, it binds actin, a protein in the cell skeleton, to change the cell shape and help chlamydia invade the cell. We show that in order to bind, the region that binds is already partially in the right shape even when actin is not present.

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