{"doi":"10.1126/sciadv.adr8596","title":"Composition and in situ structure of the <i>Methanospirillum hungatei</i> cell envelope and surface layer","abstract":"Archaea share genomic similarities with Eukarya and cellular architectural similarities with Bacteria, though archaeal and bacterial surface layers (S-layers) differ. Using cellular cryo–electron tomography, we visualized the S-layer lattice surrounding Methanospirillum hungatei , a methanogenic archaeon. Though more compact than known structures, M. hungatei ’s S-layer is a flexible hexagonal lattice of dome-shaped tiles, uniformly spaced from both the overlying cell sheath and the underlying cell membrane. Subtomogram averaging resolved the S-layer hexamer tile at 6.4-angstrom resolution. By fitting an AlphaFold model into hexamer tiles in flat and curved conformations, we uncover intra- and intertile interactions that contribute to the S-layer’s cylindrical and flexible architecture, along with a spacer extension for cell membrane attachment. M. hungatei cell’s end plug structure, likely composed of S-layer isoforms, further highlights the uniqueness of this archaeal cell. These structural features offer advantages for methane release and reflect divergent evolutionary adaptations to environmental pressures during early microbial emergence.","journal":"Science Advances","year":2024,"id":460566,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9586,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":469882,"name":"Jiayan Zhang","orcid":"0000-0003-3602-1199","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":743677,"name":"Shiqing Liao","orcid":"0000-0002-9723-8968","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1288716,"name":"Anne M. Henstra","orcid":"0000-0002-4078-7931","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1288717,"name":"Deborah R. Leon","orcid":"0000-0002-4587-4495","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1289175,"name":"Jonathan Erde","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":256466,"name":"Joseph A. Loo","orcid":"0000-0001-9989-1437","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":373692,"name":"Rachel R. Ogorzalek Loo","orcid":"0000-0002-0580-2833","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":266761,"name":"Z. Hong Zhou","orcid":"0000-0002-8373-4717","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":941202,"name":"Robert P. Gunsalus","orcid":"0000-0002-1937-8412","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":390727,"name":"Hui Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-9922-7170","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":63,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:04:07.925246Z","pmid":"39671499","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}