Nanoscale-length control of the flagellar driveshaft requires hitting the tethered outer membrane
Abstract
The bacterial flagellum exemplifies a system where even small deviations from the highly regulated flagellar assembly process can abolish motility and cause negative physiological outcomes. Consequently, bacteria have evolved elegant and robust regulatory mechanisms to ensure that flagellar morphogenesis follows a defined path, with each component self-assembling to predetermined dimensions. The flagellar rod acts as a driveshaft to transmit torque from the cytoplasmic rotor to the external filament. The rod self-assembles to a defined length of ~25 nanometers. Here, we provide evidence that rod length is limited by the width of the periplasmic space between the inner and outer membranes. The length of Braun's lipoprotein determines periplasmic width by tethering the outer membrane to the peptidoglycan layer.
Additional Information
© 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science. We thank T. Silhavy for anti-Lpp antisera and D. Blair and N. Wingreen for helpful discussions. All strains, primers, and plasmids used in this study are available upon request. This work was funded by NIH grant GM056141 (K.T.H.), Marie Curie Career Integration Grant 630988 (M.B.) and UK Medical Research Council Ph.D. Doctoral Training Partnership award MR/K501281/1 (J.L.F.).Attached Files
Accepted Version - nihms964764.pdf
Supplemental Material - aam6512_Cohen.SM.pdf
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Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC5963725
- Eprint ID
- 76560
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170413-151422423
- GM056141
- NIH
- 630988
- Marie Curie Fellowship
- MR/K501281/1
- Medical Research Council (UK)
- Created
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2017-04-13Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2022-03-28Created from EPrint's last_modified field