Microbiology Pt. 2 Flashcards
Bacterial Flagella
- extracellular thin appendage
- can be polar (one direction), peritrichous (all around cell surface), loprotrichous (tuft of hair)
Gram Negative Bacteria Flagellum Structure
Extracellular: - cap - filament (FliC) - hook filament junction (FlgK/L) - hook (FlgE) Outer membrane: - L ring (FlgK) Periplasm: - distal rod - proximal rod - P ring Plasma Membrane: - S-M ring - Mot Protein - Fli Protein (motor switch) / C ring
Sequential Assembly of Flagellum
- MS ring assembled via secretory apparatus
- rod subunits assembled via secretory apparatus
- hook subunits
- flagella
Assembly Process
- 26 subunits of Fli integral membrane protein come together to form MS ring
- Flig proteins assembly under the MS ring & along with FliM/FliN make up the rotor
- Flagellar proteins destined to be part of the extracellular portion of the flagellum are exported by a flagellum specific export pathway and assembled at the center
- Mot A/Mot B form the stator. Mot B is anchored to peptidoglycan later
- Rod subunits move through the hollow cylinder and build up the rod in a proximal to distal fashion
- L/P rings are found in Gram - bacteria and penetrate the outer membrane forming a bearing for the rod
- rod cap dissociates and is replaced by a hook cap that guides hook protein assembly
- hook cap dissociates and hook filament junction proteins replace it
- filament cap assembles filament proteins to reach distal end > assemble in helical fashion
Swimming vs. Swarming Motility
Swimming: movement in liquid or low viscosity substances
- rotation and no coordination of population
Swarming: requires biosurfactant and flagella/higher agar concentration (semi solid)
- coordinated movement
Flagella Motor Energy
- motor derives energy from proton gradient (higher outside the cell)
- Protons flow through Mot A/B interface that make up the stator
- Each stator contains 2 Mot B proteins each with an aspartic acid residue
- Proton binding to aspartic acid residues leads to a Mot A conformational change and the first power stroke
- Proton loss at the end of this stroke drives a second power stroke engaging the rotor
Directional Movement
Polar: counterclockwise rotation leads to forward movement and clockwise rotation leads to backwards movement
Peritrichous: counterclockwise leads for forward movement. if this switches to clockwise rotation, the bundle falls apart and the subsequent ‘tumble’ reorients the bacteria so counterclockwise rotation now drives it backwards
Flagella Components
Filament = subunits of single protein flagellum
Hook = single protein connecting filament to motor
Motor = anchored in cell wall/cytoplasmic membrane
Motor proteins = drive flagellar motions causing rotation
Fln B/FliK/Flk important in switching secretion of different substrate specificity.
ie. ordered assembly of different components
Chemotaxis
Movement dependent on environment using flagella
Experiment: capillary tube assay
- insert a tube with attractant/repellent and can graph cells in each tube over time to view chemotaxis
- Chemotaxis is controlled by TCS with a distinct mechanism
Pili & Fimbriae Commonalities
- both commonly found on prokaryotic cell surfaces
- many classes
- short filamentous structures
Fimbriae
- shorter than flagella but many more per cell
- involved in bacterial adhesion to surfaces or other cells
- not known to be used in motility
Pili
- longer than fimbriae but fewer per cell
- bridge between mating bacteria
- receptors for certain bacteriophages
- adherence of pathogens to host cells
Pili Structure
Type IV pili = attachment and motility
- major subunit of T4P is type IV pilin, structurally related proteins are found as components of DNA uptake/competence systems in different species
- Pil A protein are inserted into the plasma membrane and assemble into a filament
- Pil C in the plasma membrane forms platform for growth
- Pil Q is in the outer membrane allowing filament assembly
- 2 ATPase: Pil B (ATPase assembly of filament) and Pil T (ATPase disassembly of filament)
- peptidase cleaving end of fibrin
Twitching Motility
- cycles of assembly and disassembly of filament
- type IV pili
- solid surfaces
- retraction and coordinated population movement
Fimbriae Structure
- helical rod with chaperone usher pathway
- PapH terminates elongation
- PapG is adhesion at the tip
- Tip: filibrium proteins (Pap pili)
- Subunits guided through the secretory pathway into the periplasm where the chaperone guides them to be secreted into the growing tip
- driving force is the conformational change of protein