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prosthecate

traitmech:000065 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A morphology trait in which the cell bears one or more prosthecae — tubular extensions of the cell envelope (stalks) — that increase nutrient-uptake surface area or mediate attachment, as in Caulobacter.

Prostheca / stalk extends nutrient-uptake surface

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking developmental stalk extension to increased uptake surface area and substrate attachment.

Prostheca / stalk extends nutrient-uptake surface Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for prosthecate.

Edge evidence

  • stalk extension enables prosthecate RO:0002327

    Regulated stalk-extension elongation realizes the prosthecate phenotype.

    • DOI:10.1128/MMBR.00040-09 Curtis & Brun review the Caulobacter stalk as a regulated developmental appendage.
  • prosthecate contributes to nutrient-uptake surface area RO:0002326

    Stalks expand nutrient-uptake surface area, aiding oligotrophic growth.

    • DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2007.05633.x Wagner & Brun describe the Caulobacter stalk as a cell-envelope extension increasing nutrient-uptake surface area.
  • MreB is required for stalk extension

    MreB is necessary for stalk formation; depletion causes a stalk elongation defect.

    • DOI:10.1128/jb.00384-22 Barrows & Goley: MreB and RodA are necessary for stalk formation, as depletion of either protein results in a stalk elongation defect.
  • RodA is required for stalk extension

    RodA is necessary for stalk formation; depletion causes a stalk elongation defect.

    • DOI:10.1128/jb.00384-22 Barrows & Goley: depletion of either protein (MreB or RodA) results in a stalk elongation defect.
  • bactofilins localizes to zone of active cell wall growth biolink:located_in

    Many bactofilins localize to zones of active cell wall growth, supporting stalk biogenesis.

    • DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010788 Richter et al.: many bactofilins localize to zones of active cell wall growth.
  • StpABCD complex composes stalk crossbands

    The four-protein StpABCD complex composes the stalk crossbands.

    • DOI:10.1128/jb.00384-22 Barrows & Goley: crossbands are composed of a complex of four proteins, StpABCD.
  • stalk crossbands limits diffusion along stalk RO:0002212

    Crossbands limit diffusion along the length of the stalk, compartmentalizing it.

    • DOI:10.1128/jb.00384-22 Barrows & Goley: crossbands that limit diffusion along the length of the stalk.
  • prosthecate facilitates nutrient-uptake surface area

    Prosthecae/stalks facilitate nutrient uptake.

    • DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010788 Richter et al.: prosthecae/stalks facilitate nutrient uptake.

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2007.05633.x

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (2)

  • stalked RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2007.05633.x
  • prostheca RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1128/MMBR.00040-09

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000059 [-2.682, -2.070, -3.656, -0.652, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate MORPHOLOGY trait (prosthecate / stalked) from literature research to fill the cellular-appendage gap.

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (stalk extension / nutrient-uptake surface) with RO predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 6 evidence-backed generic edges (7 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  4. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 2 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (biolink:located_in×1, RO:0002212×1).

  5. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A1B1UYY2×1).

  6. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A0H2X1V4×1).