The flagellar motor of Caulobacter crescentus generates more torque when a cell swims backward.

ABSTRACT: Caulobacter crescentus, a monotrichous bacterium, swims by rotating a single right-handed helical filament. CW motor rotation thrusts the cell forward ¹, a mode of motility known as the pusher mode; CCW motor rotation pulls the cell backward, a mode of motility referred to as the puller mode ². The situation is opposite in E. coli, a peritrichous bacterium, where CCW rotation of multiple left-handed filaments drives the cell forward. The flagellar motor in E. coli generates more torque in the CCW direction than the CW direction in swimming cells ^3,4. However, monotrichous bacteria including C. crescentus swim forward and backward at similar speeds, prompting the assumption that motor torques in the two modes are the

SUBMITTER: Lele PP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4973516 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature