question: What is known about the protein Curli?
answer: A major component of bacterial biofilms is curli amyloid fibrils secreted by the curli biogenesis system.
  Curli is a bacterial α-synuclein (αSyn) which is deposited first in the enteric nervous system and amyloid deposits are propagated in a prion like manner to the central nervous system.
  curli are cell surface amyloid proteins abundantly expressed by certain gut bacteria. In mice overexpressing the human amyloid α-synuclein (αSyn), we reveal that colonization with curli-producing Escherichia coli promotes αSyn pathology in the gut and the brain. Curli expression is required for E. coli to exacerbate αSyn-induced behavioral deficits, including intestinal and motor impairments. Purified curli subunits accelerate αSyn aggregation in biochemical assays, while oral treatment of mice with a gut-restricted amyloid inhibitor prevents curli-mediated acceleration of pathology and behavioral abnormalities.