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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2001, p. 6404-6412, Vol. 183, No. 21
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.21.6404-6412.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Structures of Bacterial Flagellar Motors from Two
FliF-FliG Gene Fusion Mutants
Dennis
Thomas,
David Gene
Morgan,
and
David J.
DeRosier*
W. M. Keck Institute for Cellular
Visualization, Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center,
and Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
02454
Received 31 January 2001/Accepted 2 August 2001
Flagella purified from Salmonella enterica serovar
Typhimurium contain FliG, FliM, and FliN, cytoplasmic proteins that are important in torque generation and switching, and FliF, a transmembrane structural protein. The motor portion of the flagellum (the basal body
complex) has a cytoplasmic C ring and a transmembrane M ring. Incubation of purified basal bodies at pH 4.5 removed FliM and FliN but
not FliG or FliF. These basal bodies lacked C rings but had intact M
rings, suggesting that FliM and FliN are part of the C ring but not a
detectable part of the M ring. Incubation of basal bodies at pH 2.5 removed FliG, FliM, and FliN but not FliF. These basal bodies lacked
the C ring, and the cytoplasmic face of the M ring was altered,
suggesting that FliG makes up at least part of the cytoplasmic face of
the M ring. Further insights into FliG were obtained from cells
expressing a fusion protein of FliF and FliG. Flagella from these
mutants still rotated but cells were not chemotactic. One mutant is a
full-length fusion of FliF and FliG; the second mutant has a deletion
lacking the last 56 residues of FliF and the first 94 residues of FliG.
In the former, C rings appeared complete, but a portion of the M ring
was shifted to higher radius. The C-ring-M-ring interaction appeared
to be altered. In basal bodies with the fusion-deletion protein, the C
ring was smaller in diameter, and one of its domains occupied space
vacated by missing portions of FliF and FliG.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Rosenstiel
Center MS029, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454. Phone:
(781) 736-2494. Fax: (781) 736-2405. E-mail:
derosier{at}brandeis.edu.

Present address: Structural Biology Program, European Molecular
Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg,
Germany.

Present address: Department of Biophysics, Boston University
School of Medicine, Boston, MA
02118.
Journal of Bacteriology, November 2001, p. 6404-6412, Vol. 183, No. 21
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.21.6404-6412.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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