Electrostatic Interactions Between Rotor and Stator in the Bacterial Flagellar Motor

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 1998 May 30

PMID 9600984

Citations 166

Authors

J Zhou

S A Lloyd

D F Blair

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Bacterial flagellar motors rotate, obtaining power from the membrane gradient of protons or, in some species, sodium ions. Torque generation in the flagellar motor must involve interactions between components of the rotor and components of the stator. Sites of interaction between the rotor and stator have not been identified. Mutational studies of the rotor protein FliG and the stator protein MotA showed that both proteins contain charged residues essential for motor rotation. This suggests that functionally important electrostatic interactions might occur between the rotor and stator. To test this proposal, we examined double mutants with charged-residue substitutions in both the rotor protein FliG and the stator protein MotA. Several combinations of FliG mutations with MotA mutations exhibited strong synergism, whereas others showed strong suppression, in a pattern that indicates that the functionally important charged residues of FliG interact with those of MotA. These results identify a functionally important site of interaction between the rotor and stator and suggest a hypothesis for electrostatic interactions at the rotor-stator interface.

Citing Articles

Sodium-Dependent Conformational Change in Flagellar Stator Protein MotS from .

Takekawa N, Yamaguchi A, Nishiuchi K, Uehori M, Kinoshita M, Minamino T Biomolecules. 2025; 15(2).

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Regulatory Role of a Hydrophobic Core in the FliG C-Terminal Domain in the Rotary Direction of a Flagellar Motor.

Nishikino T, Hatano A, Kojima S, Homma M Biomolecules. 2025; 15(2).

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Structural insight into sodium ion pathway in the bacterial flagellar stator from marine .

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Structure and Dynamics of the Bacterial Flagellar Motor Complex.

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Genetic Analysis of Flagellar-Mediated Surface Sensing by PA14.

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