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Science 7 December 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5856, pp. 1558 - 1559
DOI: 10.1126/science.1151398
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Perspectives

BIOCHEMISTRY:
How Some Pili Pull

Todd O. Yeates and Robert T. Clubb

Unexpected covalent bonds explain the high mechanical strength of the ultrathin pili of Gram-positive bacteria.

The authors are in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. E-mail: yeates{at}mbi.ucla.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)