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Initiation of flagellar rotation in Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides
Author(s) -
Evans Michael C.W.,
Armitage Judith P.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(85)81346-6
Subject(s) - motility , rhodobacter sphaeroides , chemistry , biophysics , rotation (mathematics) , bacteria , chemiosmosis , rhodospirillaceae , flagellum , rhodospirillales , biochemistry , biology , atp synthase , microbiology and biotechnology , photosynthesis , gene , genetics , geometry , mathematics
The collapse of the proton‐motive force (pmf) in dark‐incubated Rps. sphaeroides by the addition of low concentrations of anionic uncouplers caused a loss of motility. When added to bacteria under continuous illumination, the same uncoupler concentration had no effect on motility. Re‐illumination of the nonmotile, dark‐incubated bacteria caused a very fast increase in the pmf, but there was a delay before pmf‐driven flagellar rotation was initiated. The length of the delay, which could be many minutes, was shown to be dependent on the type of uncoupler used, the ΔpH component of the pmf and to be independent of the overall size of the pmf or the temperature. It is concluded that the delay in reinitiation of motility was due to the direct interaction of anionic uncouplers with sites on the flagellar motor proteins.