Fire-sheath spray-insulated walls.
In case of fire, thick sheaths of masonry -- brick, stone or terra cotta -- around the steel would protect it from the heat, even in out-of-control blazes.
Prior to firing, this TssBC sheath is in an extended conformation.
On the other hand, around two-thirds of TssB foci are not associated with TssH and thus should be assembled sheaths primed to fire.
Let's upgrade him to a survival knife which he can hang from his belt as he struts around the campsite, looking for things to cut: The StatGear Surviv-All stainless steel full tang knife ($44.95) has a rubber handle, steel pommel, and a hard sheath with a cord-cutter, fire starter rod, and built in blade sharpener.
"And it settled over the building in a gleaming sheath of white that made the fire a wonderful thing to see.
TssH has also been reported to form dynamic foci, which correspond to its association with the contracted TssB sheath and thus, like TssB foci, report firing of the T6SS (Basler et al., 2013; Basler and Mekalanos, 2012).
When a nerve cell fires, its electrical impulses jump between the gaps in the myelin sheath, and this hastens their propagation along the length of the fibre.
Visualization of TssB-sfGFP (also known as VipA-sfGFP) foci in Vibrio cholerae first revealed dynamic cycles of "firing" by the T6SS, with cycles of extension (assembly), rapid contraction, and disassembly of the TssBC sheath being observed (Basler et al., 2012).
Further, we show that four core T6SS components, TssB, TssH, TssJ, and TssL, all exhibit distinct behavior in vivo and provide support for a model of T6SS assembly, whereby the contractile sheath assembles at a subset of potential sites defined by the membrane complex in anticipation of firing.
