Successful analysis of the motor structure of the high-speed movement of bacteria

Science and Technology Daily, Hangzhou, April 21 (Hong Hengfei, Ke Yineng, Wu Yalan, reporter Jiang Yun) Running a distance dozens of times its own length in one second is the exercise ability of many bacteria.

70% of bacteria in the world have flagella, which are composed of a motor on the bacterial membrane, an extracellular junction device and flagella filaments.

In this study, after a lot of attempts, the researchers designed a very gentle purification step of the flagellar motor, and finally obtained a complete and stable flagellar motor and joint device composite sample.

After analysis, the joint team found that the flagellar motor contains a proton pump, which can drive the rotation of the proton pump by transporting hydrogen ions, convert chemical energy into mechanical energy, and then transfer torque to the inner membrane ring of the flagellar motor to promote the rotation of the inner membrane ring.

"The subtle cooperation between the various internal structural elements enables the flagellar motor to transfer the mechanical energy converted from the proton pump to the flagellar filaments without loss, and promotes the flagellar filaments to rotate at a high speed.