S-layer

traitmech:000064 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A morphology trait in which the cell surface is coated by a crystalline, two-dimensional array of self-assembling proteinaceous (glyco)protein subunits (a surface layer), found in many bacteria and most archaea.

S-layer crystalline (glyco)protein surface array

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking self-assembly of (glyco)protein subunits into a regular 2D array to the S-layer surface coating.

Edge evidence

S-layer (glyco)protein subunits enables S-layer assembly RO:0002327
Self-assembling (glyco)protein subunits build the S-layer array.
- DOI:10.1038/nrmicro3213 Fagan & Fairweather describe self-assembled (glyco)protein arrays forming the S-layer.
S-layer assembly enables S-layer RO:0002327
Completed 2D assembly realizes the S-layer surface coating.
- DOI:10.1038/s41579-025-01258-8 Review of assembly, architecture, and functional roles of microbial surface layers.
S-layer (glyco)protein subunits self-assembles into 2D paracrystalline S-layer lattice
S-layer proteins self-assemble into a 2D paracrystalline lattice; N-terminal regions mediate self-assembly into the layer.
- DOI:10.1073/pnas.2401686121 S-layers are self-assembling, crystalline surface proteins; the N-terminal region mediates self-assembly into the layer (curation-safe at class level).

Provenance

Source: METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source: DOI:10.1038/nrmicro3213

Parent traits (1)

phenotype METPO:1000059

Synonyms (1)

surface layer RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1038/nrmicro3213

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).

environment cadmium tolerant 1.000
physiology bioluminescence 1.000
environment cobalt tolerant 1.000
environment copper tolerant 1.000
environment desiccation tolerant 1.000
environment piezotolerant 1.000
environment obligately piezophilic 1.000
morphology gas vesicle 1.000

Curation history

2026-06-03T00:00:00Z · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude
Proposed candidate MORPHOLOGY trait (S-layer) from literature research to fill the cell-surface-structure gap.
2026-06-09T15:00:00Z · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude
Added evidence-backed causal graph (S-layer 2D protein array assembly) with RO predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.
2026-06-23T00:00:00Z · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude
Added 1 evidence-backed generic edges (1 new nodes) from the deep-research report.