Structure of flagellar motor proteins in complex allows for insights into motor structure and switching.

The flagellar motor is one type of propulsion device of motile bacteria. The cytoplasmic ring (C-ring) of the motor interacts with the stator to generate torque in clockwise and counterclockwise directions. The C-ring is composed of three proteins, FliM, FliN, and FliG.

The design involved in PapI and Lrp regulation of the pap operon.

The uropathogenic Escherichia coli colonize the host body by attaching themselves to the epithelial cells through the pyelonephritis-associated pili (pap). The expression of the papBA operon is regulated under a reversible phase-variation mechanism, which partitions the population of cells into those that express the pap and others that do not. The two phases of pap expression are the direct consequences of the two distinct DNA-binding modes exhibited by leucine-responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) in the pap promoter region.

A molecular mechanism of bacterial flagellar motor switching.

The high-resolution structures of nearly all the proteins that comprise the bacterial flagellar motor switch complex have been solved; yet a clear picture of the switching mechanism has not emerged. Here, we used NMR to characterize the interaction modes and solution properties of a number of these proteins, including several soluble fragments of the flagellar motor proteins FliM and FliG, and the response-regulator CheY. We find that activated CheY, the switch signal, binds to a previously unidentified region of FliM, adjacent to the FliM-FliM interface.