A Flagellum-specific Calcium Sensor

A flagellum-specific calcium sensor.

The flagellar calcium-binding protein (FCaBP) of the flagellated protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi associates with the flagellar membrane via its N-terminal myristate and palmitate moieties in a calcium-modulated, conformation-dependent manner. This mechanism of localization is similar to that described for neuronal calcium sensors, which undergo calcium-dependent changes in conformation, which modul...

Localization of the flagellum-specific secretion signal

A flagellum-specific chaperone facilitates assembly of the core type III export apparatus of the bacterial flagellum

Many bacteria move using a complex, self-assembling nanomachine, the bacterial flagellum. Biosynthesis of the flagellum depends on a flagellar-specific type III secretion system (T3SS), a protein export machine homologous to the export machinery of the virulence-associated injectisome. Six cytoplasmic (FliH/I/J/G/M/N) and seven integral-membrane proteins (FlhA/B FliF/O/P/Q/R) form the flagellar...

A specific flagellum beating mode for inducing fusion in mammalian fertilization and kinetics of sperm internalization

The salient phases of fertilization are gamete adhesion, membrane fusion, and internalization of the spermatozoon into the oocyte but the precise timeline and the molecular, membrane and cell mechanisms underlying these highly dynamical events are far from being established. The high motility of the spermatozoa and the unpredictable location of sperm/egg fusion dramatically hinder the use of re...

Export of an N-terminal fragment of Escherichia coli flagellin by a flagellum-specific pathway.

Flagellin and several other external components of the bacterial flagellum are thought to be exported, not by the general N-terminal signal peptide-dependent pathway, but by a flagellum-specific pathway involving a central channel in the flagellum itself. We have constructed a variety of mutant alleles of the Escherichia coli flagellin gene. Mutant flagellins with large internal deletions or tr...