A membrane-associated protein, FliX, is required for an early step in Caulobacter flagellar assembly.

ABSTRACT: The ordered assembly of the Caulobacter crescentus flagellum is accomplished in part through the organization of the flagellar structural genes in a regulatory hierarchy of four classes. Class II genes are the earliest to be expressed and are activated at a specific time in the cell cycle by the CtrA response regulator. In order to identify gene products required for early events in flagellar assembly, we used the known phenotypes of class II mutants to identify new class II flagellar genes. In this report we describe the isolation and characterization of a flagellar gene, fliX. A fliX null mutant is nonmotile, lacks a flagellum, and exhibits a marked cell division defect. Epistasis experiments placed fliX within class II of the flagellar regulatory hierarchy, suggesting that FliX function

SUBMITTER: Mohr CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC107146 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature