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Flagellar Assembly Mutants in Escherichia coli¹

^a Department of Biology, Revelle College, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037

ABSTRACT

Genetic and biochemical analysis of mutants defective in the synthesis of flagella in Escherichia coli revealed an unusual class of mutants. These mutants were found to produce short, curly, flagella-like filaments with low amplitude (0.06 µm). The filaments were connected to characteristic flagellar basal caps and extended for 1 to 2 µm from the bacterial surface. The mutations in these strains were all members of one complementation group, group E, which is located between his and uvrC. The structural, serological, and chemical properties of the filament derived from the mutants closely resemble those of the flagellar hook structure. On the basis of these properties, it is suggested that these filaments are "polyhooks", i.e., repeated end-to-end polymers of the hook portion of the flagellum. Polyhooks are presumed to be the result of a defective cistron which normally functions to control the length of the hook region of the flagellum.

¹ A preliminary report of these findings was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, 21 April 1972.

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