Three-dimensional structure of the frozen-hydrated flagellar filament. The left-handed filament of Salmonella typhimurium

Shlomo Trachtenberg*, David J. DeRosier

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

109 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electron micrographs of frozen-hydrated preparations of flagellar filaments of Salmonella typhimurium were used to obtain a three-dimensional reconstruction of the structure. The filaments were obtained from the mutant SJW1660, which produces straight, left-handed filaments. The subunits in this filament are thought to be all in the L-state. The structure consists of a set of 11 longitudinal segmented rods of density that lie at a radius of 70 Å. The outermost feature of the filament is a set of knobs of density that project outward from the rods. The interior of the filaments consists of arms that extend inward radially from the segmented rods. The 11 segmented rods and their interconnections are noteworthy because current theories regarding filament structure involve switching of subunits between the L and R states co-operatively along the directions of the rods.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)581-601
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Molecular Biology
Volume195
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 Jun 1987
Externally publishedYes

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