Structural insights into flagellar stator– rotor interactions

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Yunjie Chang (Creator)

Jun Liu (Creator)

Ki Hwan Moon (Creator)

MD A Motaleb (Creator)

Steven J Norris (Creator)

Xiaowei Zhao (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: The bacterial flagellar motor is a molecular machine that can rotate the flagellar\r\nfilament at high speed. The rotation is generated by the stator–rotor interaction, coupled with an\r\nion flux through the torque-generating stator. Here we employed cryo-electron tomography to\r\nvisualize the intact flagellar motor in the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. By\r\nanalyzing the motor structures of wild-type and stator-deletion mutants, we not only localized the\r\nstator complex in situ, but also revealed the stator–rotor interaction at an unprecedented detail.\r\nImportantly, the stator–rotor interaction induces a conformational change in the flagella C-ring.\r\nGiven our observation that a non-motile mutant, in which proton flux is blocked, cannot generate\r\nthe similar conformational change, we propose that the proton-driven torque is responsible for the\r\nconformational change required for flagellar rotation.

Additional Information

Publication

Other

Language: English

Date: 2023

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