Both acetate kinase and acetyl coenzyme A synthetase are involved in acetate-stimulated change in the direction of flagellar rotation in Escherichia coli.

Escherichia coli strains overproducing the response regulator CheY respond to acetate by increasing their clockwise bias of flagellar rotation, even when they lack other chemotaxis proteins. With acetate metabolism mutants, we demonstrate that both acetate kinase and acetyl coenzyme A synthetase are involved in this response. Thus, a response was observed when one of these enzymes was missing but not when both were absent.