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STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY

A new spin on flagellar rotation

Nature Microbiology volume 5, pages 1455–1456 (2020)Cite this article

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Many bacteria rely on their flagella for motility, yet the molecular mechanism of flagellar rotation was previously unclear. Recently, multiple papers solved the atomic structure of the bacterial flagellum stator complex, elucidating how these intricate molecular machines operate.

In this issue of Nature Microbiology, Deme and co-workers report the atomic structure of the bacterial flagellum stator complex in five different bacterial species, determined by single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy2. The stator structure was also reported independently in another study3 published this month in Cell. Collectively, these studies provide unprecedented structural insight into the construction of the bacterial stator and how it interacts with the rotor to generate the torque force to the flagellum filament.

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Fig. 1: Molecular mechanism of the bacterial flagellum motor.

References

  1. van Leeuwenhoek, A. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 12, 821–831 (1677).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Natalie S. Al-Otaibi

  2. The Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King’s College London, London, UK

    Julien R. C. Bergeron

Authors
  1. Natalie S. Al-Otaibi
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  2. Julien R. C. Bergeron
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Correspondence to Julien R. C. Bergeron.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Al-Otaibi, N.S., Bergeron, J.R.C. A new spin on flagellar rotation. Nat Microbiol 5, 1455–1456 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-00820-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-00820-9

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