Roll out the barrel! Outer membrane tension resolves an unexpected folding intermediate

How do bacteria assemble transmembrane 0-barrels into their outer membrane in the absence of an energy source? New structures and experiments from Doyle et al. suggest that the 0-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) co-opts the power of membrane elastic tension to help complete the folding of 0-barrel outer mem-brane proteins.

Automated summary

New structures and experiments reveal that the 0-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) in bacteria utilizes the energy of membrane elastic tension to aid in the folding of 0-barrel outer membrane proteins.