Book chapter
Flagellation and Chemotaxis
Archaea: Molecular and Cellular Biology, pp.385-410
American Society for Microbiology Press
2007
Abstract
One of the better-studied aspects of archaea physiology is the understanding of various types of taxis (phototaxis, chemotaxis), especially in halobacteria. Bacterial flagella and archaeal flagella are responsible for swimming, while type IV pili are involved in surface translocation or twitching. The study of phototaxis and chemotaxis in Halobacterium salinarum is a rare instance where significant biochemical and genetic studies on taxis in an archaeon have been reported. Transducer proteins are responsible for the detection of the external signal that is transmitted to the internal components of the chemotaxis system. An htrXI deletional mutant is defective in chemotaxis toward glutamic acid and aspartic acid and devoid of methyltransferase activity. Continued study of archaeal flagellation and chemotaxis is expected to yield the same far-ranging information about the much less well-studied archaea. Significant progress in understanding motility, flagellation, and chemotaxis will occur as the genetic tools continue to improve in the various model organisms. Study of the flagella-associated genes which are often cotranscribed with flagellins will, it is hoped, yield important information about their, so far completely unknown, role in archaeal flagellation. It is expected that the continued study of archaeal flagellation and chemotaxis will lead to novel discoveries about these structures and processes in archaea, and these may in turn lead to insights into the understanding of bacterial chemotaxis and type IV pili assembly, structure, and function.
Details
- Title
- Flagellation and Chemotaxis
- Authors
- Ken F Jarrell (Author) - Queen's UniversitySandy Y M Ng (Author) - Queen's UniversityBonnie Chaban (Author) - Queen's University
- Contributors
- Ricardo Cavicchioli (Editor) - UNSW Australia
- Publication details
- Archaea: Molecular and Cellular Biology, pp.385-410
- Publisher
- American Society for Microbiology Press
- DOI
- 10.1128/9781555815516.ch18; 10.1128/9781555815516
- ISBN
- 9781683671688
- Organisation Unit
- Centre for Bioinnovation; Thompson Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99694698502621
- Output Type
- Book chapter
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