African trypanosomes are protozoan parasites that cause sleeping sickness in humans through a tsetse fly vector. The procyclic form of Trypanosoma brucei has a single, attached flagellum that describes a helical path along the cell from posterior to anterior. During division, a specific flagellum-flagellum connection is elaborated between the new and old flagellum. This connector was present on...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen causing severe infections often characterized by robust neutrophilic infiltration. Neutrophils provide the first line of defense against P. aeruginosa. Aside from their defense conferred by phagocytic activity, neutrophils also release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) to immobilize bacteria. Although NET formation is an important antimicr...

The Proteus mirabilis flagellum class I flhDC operon was isolated, and its transcript was shown to originate from a sigma70 promoter 244 bp 5' of flhD and 29 bp 3' of a putative cyclic AMP receptor protein-binding site. Expression of this regulatory master operon increased strongly as cells differentiated into elongated hyperflagellated swarm filaments, and cell populations artificially overexp...

Introduction African Trypanosomes are flagellated protozoan parasites that cause sleeping sickness in humans and Nagana in cattle. During its life cycle, Trypanosoma brucei alternates between an insect vector (tsetse fly) and a mammalian host. Within each of these, the parasite proliferates and undergoes separate periods of differentiation in preparation for each new host/vector environment. Th...

Bradyrhizobium japonicum is one of the soil bacteria that form nodules on soybean roots. The cell has two sets of flagellar systems, one thick flagellum and a few thin flagella, uniquely growing at subpolar positions. The thick flagellum appears to be semicoiled in morphology, and the thin flagella were in a tight-curly form as observed by dark-field microscopy. Flagellin genes were identified ...

TbKif13-2, a member of the microtubule-depolymerising Kinesin-13 family was localised at the tip of the flagellum in Trypanosoma brucei. Its predicted activity suggested a role in the regulation of axonemal length. However, using gene deletion and overexpression of TbKif13-2 we show that, in procyclic T. brucei, this kinesin has only a very limited effect on flagellar length. Gene deletion resu...

Abstract In this paper, we analyze the inverse dynamics and control of a bacteria-inspired uniflagellar robot in fluid medium at low Reynolds number. Inspired by mechanism behind locomotion flagellated bacteria, consider comprising flagellum—a flexible helical filament—connected to spherical head. The flagellum rotates about head controlled angular velocity generates propulsive force that moves...

Hyper-elongated structures and their penetration are widespread among insects, for example, intromittent organs, ovipositors, and piercing-sucking mouthparts. The penetration of thin structures with high aspect ratio without buckling and rupturing is mechanically very challenging. However, this problem is economically solved in nature, and the solutions might be helpful for, for example, in the...

Intraflagellar transport (IFT) is necessary for the construction of cilia and flagella. IFT proteins are concentrated at the base of the flagellum but little is known about the actual role of this pool of proteins. Here, IFT was investigated in Trypanosoma brucei, an attractive model for flagellum studies, using GFP fusions with IFT52 or the IFT dynein heavy chain DHC2.1. Tracking analysis by a...

The bacterial flagellum is a self-assembling filament, which bacteria use for swimming. It is built from tens of thousands of flagellin monomers in a self-assembly process that involves translocation of the monomers through the flagellar interior, a channel, to the growing tip. Flagellum monomers are pumped into the filament at the base, move unfolded along the channel and then bind to the tip ...