The recent discoveries of prokaryotic homologs of all three major eukaryotic cytoskeletal proteins (actin, tubulin, intermediate filaments) have spurred a resurgence of activity in the field of bacterial morphology. In spirochetes, however, it has long been known that the flagellar filaments act as a cytoskeletal protein structure, contributing to their shape and conferring motility on this uni...

Electron microscopic examination of the spermatozoa from a man suffering from asthenozoospermia (poor or low sperm motility) showed that approximately 92% of the sperm flagella lacked central pair microtubules but possessed dynein arms and radial spokes while a small percentage of the spermatozoa had complete flagella. The characteristics of the motor apparatus of the spermatozoa and the effect...

The biflagellate alga Chlamydomonas reinhardi was studied with the light and electron microscopes to determine the behavior of flagella in the living cell and the structure of the basal apparatus of the flagella. During normal forward swimming the flagella beat synchronously in the same plane, as in the human swimmer's breast stroke. The form of beat is like that of cilia. Occasionally cells sw...

We previously described a kinesin-dependent movement of particles in the flagella of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii called intraflagellar transport (IFT) (Kozminski, K.G., K.A. Johnson, P. Forscher, and J.L. Rosenbaum. 1993. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 90:5519-5523). When IFT is inhibited by inactivation of a kinesin, FLA10, in the temperature-sensitive mutant, fla10, existing flagella resorb and ne...

Intraflagellar transport (IFT) underpins many of the important cellular roles of cilia and flagella in signaling and motility. The microtubule motors kinesin-2 and cytoplasmic dynein 1b drive IFT particles (protein complexes carrying ciliary component proteins) along the axoneme to facilitate the assembly and maintenance of cilia. IFT is regulated primarily by cargo loading onto the IFT particl...

It is well known that there are two kinds of Salmonella organisms in respect of flagellar antigens; the one is monophasic and the other is diphasic. The distinction is based upon whether organisms form colonies showing uniform behavior in respect of flagellar agglutinability or dissociating into two kinds of colonies different from each other. Further consideration reveals the existence of two ...

Pathogenic Leptospira strains are responsible for leptospirosis, a worldwide emerging zoonotic disease. These spirochetes are unique amongst bacteria because of their corkscrew-like cell morphology and their periplasmic flagella. Motility is reported as an important virulence determinant, probably favoring entry and dissemination of pathogenic Leptospira in the host. However, proteins constitut...

Flagellar polypeptides of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were analyzed in two-dimensions by isoelectric focusing and electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. In addition to flagellar tubulin, over 130 polypeptides were resolved and 100 of these were identified as axonemal components in wild-type organisms. Flagella of two nonconditional paralyzed mutants, pf 14 and pf 1, were also ...

conclusions the development of delivery systems into bacteria with an efficacy compatible to that in human use could be a key for the potential utility of sirna for the prophylaxis and treatment of p. aeruginosa-induced hematogenous pulmonary infections in humans. results in quantitative rt–pcr,it was shown that the sirna significantly inhibited the expression of the flagella mrna. filc gene kn...

As recognized by Irene Manton (1) at the time that the basic 9 + 2 structural uniformity of cilia and most eukaryotic flagella was first becoming recognized, these organelles are sufficiently complex that knowledge of their structure, no matter how detailed, cannot provide an understanding of their mechanisms of growth and function . In our understanding of these mechanisms, the substantial adv...