Flagellar dynamics reveal fluctuations and kinetic limit in the Escherichia coli chemotaxis network.

ABSTRACT: The Escherichia coli chemotaxis network, by which bacteria modulate their random run/tumble swimming pattern to navigate their environment, must cope with unavoidable number fluctuations ("noise") in its molecular constituents like other signaling networks. The probability of clockwise (CW) flagellar rotation, or CW bias, is a measure of the chemotaxis network's output, and its temporal fluctuations provide a proxy for network noise. Here we quantify fluctuations in the chemotaxis signaling network from the switching statistics of flagella, observed using time-resolved fluorescence microscopy of individual optically trapped E. coli cells. This approach allows noise to be quantified across the dynamic range of the network. Large CW bias fluctuations are revealed at steady state, which may p

SUBMITTER: Bano R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10739816 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature