crescentin filament

cellstructuremech:crescentin_filament · Cytoskeleton · Filament · Proposed

A bacterial intermediate filament-like cytoskeletal filament assembled from crescentin that localizes along the inner curvature of Caulobacter vibrioides cells and helps maintain their curved cell shape. [DOI:10.1073/pnas.2309984121]

Synonyms: CreS filament; bacterial intermediate filament-like crescentin filament

Part of: GO:0005856 — cytoskeleton (no local record)

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Stoichiometry	Essential	Role
crescentin	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	creS		ESSENTIAL	Intermediate filament-like coiled-coil protein that assembles into the curved Caulobacter crescentin filament. `DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2017.03.006` Woldemeskel and Goley 2017 review CreS/crescentin as the Caulobacter cytoskeletal protein responsible for curvature. `DOI:10.1073/pnas.2309984121` Liu et al. 2024 determined the cryo-EM structure of Caulobacter crescentin filaments.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:155892 Caulobacter vibrioides — COMMON: Crescentin filaments have been directly characterized in Caulobacter crescentus (vibrioides). [DOI:10.1073/pnas.2309984121]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:155892 Caulobacter vibrioides — Caulobacter crescentus (vibrioides) was used to resolve CreS filaments by cryo-EM and localize them near the inner membrane on the concave cell side by cryo-ET. [DOI:10.1073/pnas.2309984121]

Functions

Caulobacter cell-curvature maintenance — The crescentin filament tracks along the inner curvature of Caulobacter cells and maintains the vibrioid or crescent cell shape.
- DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2017.03.006 Woldemeskel and Goley 2017 review crescentin as the CreS-encoded Caulobacter cytoskeletal protein for curvature whose deletion yields straight rods.
- DOI:10.1101/gad.1795509 Charbon et al. 2009 followed crescentin assembly, organization and dynamics in vivo.

Mechanism graphs

Crescentin filaments maintain Caulobacter curvature (FUNCTION)

Crescentin assembles into a membrane-associated filament that follows the inner curvature of Caulobacter cells and supports curved cell morphology.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
crescentin	assembles into	crescentin filament	`DOI:10.1101/gad.1795509` Charbon et al. 2009 analyzed crescentin assembly and organization in Caulobacter cells. `DOI:10.1073/pnas.2309984121` Liu et al. 2024 resolved the assembled crescentin filament by cryo-EM.
crescentin filament	localizes to	Caulobacter inner cell curvature	`DOI:10.1073/pnas.2309984121` Liu et al. 2024 used cryo-ET to localize crescentin filaments on the concave side of curved Caulobacter cells near the inner membrane.
crescentin filament	maintains	curved Caulobacter morphology	`DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2017.03.006` Woldemeskel and Goley 2017 review creS deletion as producing straight Caulobacter rods.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral grounding for full-length crescentin/CreS family proteins in Caulobacterales. This first record curates the experimentally studied Caulobacter crescentin component without asserting that a domain-level InterPro or Pfam entry denotes the whole filament-forming protein family.
INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): Correct the active citation year without rewriting the original curation event. The article front matter for DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2017.03.006 gives electronic publication on 27 March 2017 and print publication in August 2017, volume 25 issue 8. Four active notes and the historical #1260 event incorrectly said 2018.

Evidence

DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2017.03.006 Woldemeskel and Goley 2017, 'Shapeshifting to survive: shape determination and regulation in Caulobacter crescentus', Trends in Microbiology.
DOI:10.1101/gad.1795509 Charbon, Cabeen and Jacobs-Wagner 2009, 'Bacterial intermediate filaments: in vivo assembly, organization, and dynamics of crescentin', Genes & Development.
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2309984121 Liu, van den Ent and Lowe 2024, 'Filament structure and subcellular organization of the bacterial intermediate filament-like protein crescentin', PNAS.
GO:0099513 — polymeric cytoskeletal fiber Broader polymeric cytoskeletal fiber class; this protein filament retains its specific local identity.
GO:0005856 — cytoskeleton The cytoskeletal framework contains this filament; the filament is part of it, not a type of the entire framework.

Curation history

2026-09-11T09:50:41Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-11T09:51:48Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added cytoskeleton parentage, CreS/crescentin synonymy and component curation, Caulobacter vibrioides scope, a cell-curvature function, DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic filament assembly and localization graph, and a crescentin grounding TODO.
2026-09-11T10:02:01Z codex · REVIEW_FIX — Addressed PR review issues #456 and #457 by narrowing the canonical example to Caulobacter vibrioides NA1000 and correcting graph node types for the inner-curvature localization cue and curved morphology.
2026-09-21T19:15:25Z codex · REPLACED_UNREADABLE_EVIDENCE — #1260: Replaced unreadable Ausmees 2003 citations with readable Liu 2024, Charbon 2009, and Woldemeskel and Goley 2018 support for crescentin filament structure, localization, and curvature-maintenance claims.
2026-10-11T18:52:25Z codex · ADDRESS_SAVED_REVIEW — Addressed #2244, #2245: Corrected cytoskeletal fiber is-a and containing-framework parthood. Corrected four active evidence notes to 2017 and appended an explicit correction discussion. Original #1260 curation history, DOI, biology and graph relations are preserved.

Source: data/structures/cytoskeleton/crescentin_filament.yaml