ArticlePLoS biology2019
γ-proteobacteria eject their polar flagella under nutrient depletion, retaining flagellar motor relic structures.
Article in PLoS biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers.
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 94 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
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- Structural insights into the assembly and evolution of a complex bacterial flagellar motor.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- The ancient E-ring in bacterial flagellar motors.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- Mutations in the Ferric Uptake Regulator Gene (Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Costs and benefits of phytoplankton motility.ArXiv · 2025Article
- Transcriptome-Proteome Profiling inJournal of proteome research · 2025Article
- Regulatory Plasticity and Metabolic Trade-offs Drive Adaptive Evolution of Alternative Flagellar Configurations inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Risk-reward trade-off during carbon starvation generates dichotomy in motility endurance among marine bacteria.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
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- Prokaryotic morphological features and maintenance activities governed by seasonal productivity conditions.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2024Article
- Unravelling the microbiome of wild flowering plants: a comparative study of leaves and flowers in alpine ecosystems.BMC microbiology · 2024Article
- Purification and Cryo-Electron Microscopy Analysis of Bacterial Appendages.Bio-protocol · 2024Article
- Lighting the way: how theJournal of bacteriology · 2024Review
- Synergistic phenotypic adaptations of motile purple sulphur bacteria Chromatium okenii during lake-to-laboratory domestication.PloS one · 2024Article
- Genome degradation promotesNational science review · 2023Article
- Salmonella YqiC exerts its function through an oligomeric state.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2023Article
- Bdellovibrio predation cycle characterized at nanometre-scale resolution with cryo-electron tomography.Nature microbiology · 2023Article
- SPI-1 virulence gene expression modulates motility of Salmonella Typhimurium in a proton motive force- and adhesins-dependent manner.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
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11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
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.
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