Steps in the bacterial flagellar motor

Physics – Biological Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000540

The bacterial flagellar motor is a highly efficient rotary machine used by many bacteria to propel themselves. It has recently been shown that at low speeds its rotation proceeds in steps [Sowa et al. (2005) Nature 437, 916--919]. Here we propose a simple physical model that accounts for this stepping behavior as a random walk in a tilted corrugated potential that combines torque and contact forces. We argue that the absolute angular position of the rotor is crucial for understanding step properties, and show this hypothesis to be consistent with the available data, in particular the observation that backward steps are smaller on average than forward steps. Our model also predicts a sublinear torque-speed relationship at low torque, and a peak in rotor diffusion as a function of torque.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Steps in the bacterial flagellar motor does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Steps in the bacterial flagellar motor, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Steps in the bacterial flagellar motor will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-64310

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.