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| Title | γ-proteobacteria eject their polar flagella under nutrient depletion, retaining flagellar motor relic structures. |
|---|---|
| Journal, issue, pages | PLoS Biol, Vol. 17, Issue 3, Page e3000165, Year 2019 |
| Publish date | Mar 19, 2019 |
 Authors | Josie L Ferreira / Forson Z Gao / Florian M Rossmann / Andrea Nans / Susanne Brenzinger / Rohola Hosseini / Amanda Wilson / Ariane Briegel / Kai M Thormann / Peter B Rosenthal / Morgan Beeby /    |
| PubMed Abstract | Bacteria switch only intermittently to motile planktonic lifestyles under favorable conditions. Under chronic nutrient deprivation, however, bacteria orchestrate a switch to stationary phase, ...Bacteria switch only intermittently to motile planktonic lifestyles under favorable conditions. Under chronic nutrient deprivation, however, bacteria orchestrate a switch to stationary phase, conserving energy by altering metabolism and stopping motility. About two-thirds of bacteria use flagella to swim, but how bacteria deactivate this large molecular machine remains unclear. Here, we describe the previously unreported ejection of polar motors by γ-proteobacteria. We show that these bacteria eject their flagella at the base of the flagellar hook when nutrients are depleted, leaving a relic of a former flagellar motor in the outer membrane. Subtomogram averages of the full motor and relic reveal that this is an active process, as a plug protein appears in the relic, likely to prevent leakage across their outer membrane; furthermore, we show that ejection is triggered only under nutritional depletion and is independent of the filament as a possible mechanosensor. We show that filament ejection is a widespread phenomenon demonstrated by the appearance of relic structures in diverse γ-proteobacteria including Plesiomonas shigelloides, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio fischeri, Shewanella putrefaciens, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. While the molecular details remain to be determined, our results demonstrate a novel mechanism for bacteria to halt costly motility when nutrients become scarce. |
 External links | PLoS Biol / PubMed:30889173 / PubMed Central |
| Methods | EM (subtomogram averaging) |
| Resolution | 33.0 - 47.0 Å |
| Structure data |  EMDB-10057:  EMDB-4569: |
| Source |
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Plesiomonas shigelloides ATCC 14029 (bacteria)