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Published online 19 June 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.903
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Bacterial engines have their own clutch
Microbes don't hit the brakes to stop; they just pump the clutch.
When a bacterium wants to settle down, it uses a molecular 'clutch' to disengage its propulsion system, researchers have found.
No one had previously worked out how bacteria turn off their flagella, the spinning tails that they use to move around.
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If Daniel Kearns succeeds in disabling the clutch mechanism in B.subtilis I wouldn't be surprised if the little beasties don't eventually genetically engineer/re-invent (more commonly regarded as mutation) new genetic coding to achieve clutch operation.