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Publication Abstract from PubMed

The bacterial flagellum is a complex self-assembling nanomachine that confers motility to the cell. Despite great variation across species, all flagella are ultimately constructed from a helical propeller that is attached to a motor embedded in the inner membrane. The motor consists of a series of stator units surrounding a central rotor made up of two ring complexes, the MS-ring and the C-ring. Despite many studies, high-resolution structural information is still lacking for the MS-ring of the rotor, and proposed mismatches in stoichiometry between the two rings have long provided a source of confusion for the field. Here, we present structures of the Salmonella MS-ring, revealing a high level of variation in inter- and intrachain symmetry that provides a structural explanation for the ability of the MS-ring to function as a complex and elegant interface between the two main functions of the flagellum-protein secretion and rotation.

Symmetry mismatch in the MS-ring of the bacterial flagellar rotor explains the structural coordination of secretion and rotation.,Johnson S, Fong YH, Deme JC, Furlong EJ, Kuhlen L, Lea SM Nat Microbiol. 2020 Jul;5(7):966-975. doi: 10.1038/s41564-020-0703-3. Epub 2020, Apr 13. PMID:32284565^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.