Multiple CheY Homologs Control Swimming Reversals and Transient Pauses in Azospirillum brasilense.

ABSTRACT: Chemotaxis, together with motility, helps bacteria foraging in their habitat. Motile bacteria exhibit a variety of motility patterns, often controlled by chemotaxis, to promote dispersal. Motility in many bacteria is powered by a bidirectional flagellar motor. The flagellar motor has been known to briefly pause during rotation because of incomplete reversals or stator detachment. Transient pauses were previously observed in bacterial strains lacking CheY, and these events could not be explained by incomplete motor reversals or stator detachment. Here, we systematically analyzed swimming trajectories of various chemotaxis mutants of the monotrichous soil bacterium, Azospirillum brasilense. Like other polar flagellated bacterium, the main swimming pattern in A. brasilense is run and reverse.

SUBMITTER: Mukherjee T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6486476 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature