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Bacterial Flagella

Bacterial flagella are thin, helical appendages that enable motility in bacteria, with various arrangements including monotrichous, lophotrichous, amphitrichous, and peritrichous. The structure of flagella consists of a basal body, hook, and filament, with movement driven by the rotation of flagella powered by proton motive forces. Bacteria exhibit taxis, responding to environmental stimuli, and chemotaxis, which is the movement toward or away from chemical stimuli, facilitated by chemoreceptors.

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24 views28 pages

Bacterial Flagella

Bacterial flagella are thin, helical appendages that enable motility in bacteria, with various arrangements including monotrichous, lophotrichous, amphitrichous, and peritrichous. The structure of flagella consists of a basal body, hook, and filament, with movement driven by the rotation of flagella powered by proton motive forces. Bacteria exhibit taxis, responding to environmental stimuli, and chemotaxis, which is the movement toward or away from chemical stimuli, facilitated by chemoreceptors.

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nayna naj
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BACTERIAL FLAGELLA

RAKESH SHARDA
Department of Veterinary Microbiology
NDVSU College of Veterinary Science & A.H.,
MHOW
Flagellum – the organ of motility

• Bacterial flagella are hair like, thin, helical appendages


• 12 - 30 nm in thickness and 15 - 20 mm long.
• several times longer than the bacterial cell.
• Most of the organisms that produce capsules are non-
motile.
• None of the cocci of medical importance is motile.
Arrangements of bacterial flagella

 Atrichus - No flagella is present, e.g., Spirochetes


 Monotrichous - One polar flagella, e.g.,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
 Lophotrichous - A bunch of polar flagella at one or
both ends , e.g., Pseudomonas flourescens (lophos -
Greek for a crest).
 Amphitrichous - a single flagellum at both poles of
the organism e.g., Aquaspirillum serpens (amphi -
Greek for 'at each end').
 Peritrichous - Flagella all over the surface of cells,
e.g., Salmonella Typhi (peri - around).
Monotrichous Flagellum of
Vibrio cholerae
E. coli with lophotrichous flagella
Spirillum with Lophotrichous Arrangement of Flagella

Note bundle of flagella at each pole (arrows).


Amphitrichous (amphi - Greek for 'at each end').- a
single flagellum at both poles of the organism e.g.,
Aquaspirillum serpens

Note single flagellum at each pole (arrows).


Proteus Showing Peritrichous Arrangement of Flagella

Note the bacterium is surrounded by flagella (arrow).


Structure of flagella

•A flagellum is a hollow, rigid cylinder composed of


three parts: a basal body, a hook, and a filament.
• Some Gram-negative bacteria have a sheath
surrounding the flagellum.
• The filament is composed of the protein flagellin and is a
hollow tube 20 nm thick. It ends with a capping protein.
• The basal body consists of protein rings that act as
bearings.
• Gram-positive organisms have 2 basal body rings, one in
the peptidoglycan layer and one in the plasma
membrane.
• Gram-negative organisms have 4 rings:
L ring associates with the lipopolysaccharides
P ring associates with peptidoglycan layer
M ring is embedded in the plasma membrane
S ring is directly attached to the plasma membrane
• Itis presumed that M ring function as a drive plate
(motor) and S ring as a counter balance (stator), while
the P and L rings act as bearings or bushings.
Flagellin has a mass of about 30,000 to 60,000 daltons.
The amino acid composition of flagellin differs between
species, but cysteine and tryptophan are always absent.
Anti-flagellar antibodies are useful in serotyping and
serodiagnosis of motile bacteria.
The components of the flagellum are capable of self-
assembly
Both the basal body and the filament have a hollow core,
through which the flagellin subunits are able to move
into their respective positions.
The filament grows at its tip rather than at the base.
Movement of bacteria
 Bacteria propel themselves by rotating their helical flagella in a
corkscrew like fashion.
The direction of rotation of flagella determines the movement of
the cell.
Anticlockwise rotation of monotrichious polar flagella results in
forward movement termed as "run".
Clockwise rotation of the flagellum results in a random
“tumbling” motion.
Peritrichous bacteria move in a similar fashion where the bundling
of the flagella during anticlockwise rotation results in “run ” and
the clockwise flagellar rotation. causes bundle disruption resulting
in “tumbling
 The speed of rotation of flagella is 200 to 1000 rpm.
FLAGELLAR MOTILITY

Movement in Movement in
Monotrichous Bacteria Peritrichous Bacteria
Movement of bacteria

The rotation of flagellum is driven by the proton motive


forces
The rotor transports protons across the membrane, and
is turned in the process
TAXIS

• Around half of all known bacteria are motile.


• Motility serves to keep bacteria in an optimum
environment via taxis.
• A taxi is a motile response to an environmental
stimulus.
• Bacteria can respond to chemicals (chemo taxis),
light (photo taxis), osmotic pressure (osmo taxis),
oxygen (aero taxis), and temperature (thermo
taxis).
• Sensors for taxis are located in cell membrane
CHEMOTAXIS
Chemotaxis is the movement toward or away from a
chemical stimulus.
 Movement towards a useful chemical or away from a
harmful chemical is called positive chemotaxis.
 Movement away from a useful chemical or towards a
harmful chemical is called negative chemotaxis.
Bacterial chemotaxis is controlled by a molecular
sensors known as chemoreceptors, which are located in
the cytoplasmic membrane or periplasm bacterium.
Chemoreceptors convey information through a
phosporylation cascade.
Chemotaxis

harmful chemical
Demonstration of motility

Direct observation of motility


1. Hanging drop method
2. Phase-contrast microscopy
3. Dark-field microscopy

Motility Test medium


Semi-solid agar (0.3%)

Flagella staining
Leifson’s method
The hanging drop method for
motility

MIU medium.From
left uninoculated,
motile and non motile
bacteria
Flagella Stain of Proteus Showing Peritrichous Arrangement
of Flagella
Endoflagella

Synonym: periplasmic or flagella, axial filament


rotation of the cell in a spiral fashion and consequent locomotion
located in the periplasmic space of spirochetes over their entire
length and cause the entire bacterium to rotate and move as a
corkscrew.
Scanning Electron Micrograph of Leptospira interrogans

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