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Microbiology

Adaptation by target remodelling

Nature volume 484, pages 173–174 (2012)Cite this article

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Bacteria direct their movement in response to certain chemicals by controlling the rotation of whip-like appendages called flagella. The sensitivity of the response can be adjusted at the signal's target, the flagellar motor. See Letter p.233

When we switch on a lamp in a dark room, our eyes adapt quickly to the lighting. Similarly, in a process known as chemotaxis, specific sensory systems in bacteria detect and adapt to changes in the concentration of molecules such as nutrients, so that the microbes can control the motion of their flagella and swim to more favourable environments. Many adaptive mechanisms act on cell-surface receptor proteins that detect stimuli and generate signals across the cell membrane and within the cytoplasm. Indeed, the sensitivity of the bacterial chemotaxis machinery is regulated by addition or removal of methyl groups on the chemical-sensing receptors (chemoreceptors)1. But, as Yuan et al.2 report on page 233 of this issue, the machinery can also adapt by remodelling the target of signalling — the flagellar motor. Motor adaptation differs from receptor adaptation in its time frame, mechanism and function.

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Figure 1: Microbial sense and sensibility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gerald L. Hazelbauer is in the Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine and the College of Agriculture, Foods and Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA.,

    Gerald L. Hazelbauer

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  1. Gerald L. Hazelbauer
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Correspondence to Gerald L. Hazelbauer.

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Hazelbauer, G. Adaptation by target remodelling. Nature 484, 173–174 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/484173a

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