Physics of swimming and its fitness cost determine strategies of bacterial investment in flagellar motility.

ABSTRACT: Microorganisms must distribute their limited resources among different physiological functions, including those that do not directly contribute to growth. In this study, we investigate the allocation of resources to flagellar swimming, the most prominent and biosynthetically costly of such cellular functions in bacteria. Although the growth-dependence of flagellar gene expression in peritrichously flagellated Escherichia coli is well known, the underlying physiological limitations and regulatory strategies are not fully understood. By characterizing the dependence of motile behavior on the activity of the flagellar regulon, we demonstrate that, beyond a critical number of filaments, the hydrodynamics of propulsion limits the ability of bacteria to increase their swimming by synthesizing ad

SUBMITTER: Lisevich I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11836070 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature