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Dryad

Data from: High-speed motility originates from cooperatively pushing and pulling flagella bundles in bilophotrichous bacteria

Cite this dataset

Bente, Klaas et al. (2021). Data from: High-speed motility originates from cooperatively pushing and pulling flagella bundles in bilophotrichous bacteria [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.r2nd550

Abstract

Bacteria propel and change direction by rotating long, helical filaments, called flagella. The number of flagella, their arrangement on the cell body and their sense of rotation hypothetically determine the locomotion characteristics of a species. The movement of the most rapid microorganisms has in particular remained unexplored because of additional experimental limitations. We show that magnetotactic cocci with two flagella bundles on one pole swim faster than 500 μm·s-1 along a double helical path, making them one of the fastest natural microswimmers. We additionally reveal that the cells reorient in less than 5 ms, an order of magnitude faster than reported so far for any other bacteria. Using hydrodynamic modeling, we demonstrate that a mode where a pushing and a pulling bundle cooperate is the only possibility to enable both helical tracks and fast reorientations. The advantage of sheathed flagella bundles is the high rigidity, making high swimming speeds possible.

Usage notes

Funding

Max Planck Society

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Award: FA 835/7-2

German Academic Exchange Service, Award: 57314018

Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Award: ANR-16-TERC-0025-01

Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Award: ANR Tremplin-ERC: ANR-16-TERC-0025-01

IMPRS on Multiscale Biosystems

Location

Deutschland