1
|
Direct Measurement of the Stall Torque of the Flagellar Motor in Escherichia coli with Magnetic Tweezers. mBio 2022; 13:e0078222. [PMID: 35699374 PMCID: PMC9426426 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00782-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The flagellar motor drives the rotation of flagellar filaments, propelling the swimming of flagellated bacteria. The maximum torque the motor generates, the stall torque, is a key characteristic of the motor function. Direct measurements of the stall torque carried out 3 decades ago suffered from large experimental uncertainties, and subsequently there were only indirect measurements. Here, we applied magnetic tweezers to directly measure the stall torque in E. coli. We precisely calibrated the torsional stiffness of the magnetic tweezers and performed motor resurrection experiments at stall, accomplishing a precise determination of the stall torque per torque-generating unit (stator unit). From our measurements, each stator passes 2 protons per step, indicating a tight coupling between motor rotation and proton flux. IMPORTANCE The maximum torque the bacterial flagellar motor generates, the stall torque, is a critical parameter that describes the motor energetics. As the motor operates in equilibrium near stall, from the stall torque one can determine how many protons each torque-generating unit (stator) of the motor passes per revolution and then test whether motor rotation and proton flux are tightly or loosely coupled, which has been controversial in recent years. Direct measurements performed 3 decades ago suffered from large uncertainties, and subsequently, only indirect measurements were attempted, obtaining a range of values inconsistent with the previous direct measurements. Here, we developed a method that used magnetic tweezers to perform motor resurrection experiments at stall, resulting in a direct precise measurement of the stall torque per stator. Our study resolved the previous inconsistencies and provided direct experimental support for the tight coupling mechanism between motor rotation and proton flux.
Collapse
|
2
|
Deme JC, Johnson S, Vickery O, Aron A, Monkhouse H, Griffiths T, James RH, Berks BC, Coulton JW, Stansfeld PJ, Lea SM. Structures of the stator complex that drives rotation of the bacterial flagellum. Nat Microbiol 2020; 5:1553-1564. [PMID: 32929189 PMCID: PMC7610383 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-020-0788-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
The bacterial flagellum is the prototypical protein nanomachine and comprises a rotating helical propeller attached to a membrane-embedded motor complex. The motor consists of a central rotor surrounded by stator units that couple ion flow across the cytoplasmic membrane to generate torque. Here, we present the structures of the stator complexes from Clostridium sporogenes, Bacillus subtilis and Vibrio mimicus, allowing interpretation of the extensive body of data on stator mechanism. The structures reveal an unexpected asymmetric A5B2 subunit assembly where the five A subunits enclose the two B subunits. Comparison to structures of other ion-driven motors indicates that this A5B2 architecture is fundamental to bacterial systems that couple energy from ion flow to generate mechanical work at a distance and suggests that such events involve rotation in the motor structures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Justin C Deme
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Central Oxford Structural Molecular Imaging Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Steven Johnson
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Owen Vickery
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- School of Life Sciences & Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Amy Aron
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Holly Monkhouse
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Thomas Griffiths
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Ben C Berks
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - James W Coulton
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Département de Biochemie et Médecine Moleculaire, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Phillip J Stansfeld
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- School of Life Sciences & Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Susan M Lea
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Central Oxford Structural Molecular Imaging Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Beeby M, Ferreira JL, Tripp P, Albers SV, Mitchell DR. Propulsive nanomachines: the convergent evolution of archaella, flagella and cilia. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2020; 44:253-304. [DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuaa006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Echoing the repeated convergent evolution of flight and vision in large eukaryotes, propulsive swimming motility has evolved independently in microbes in each of the three domains of life. Filamentous appendages – archaella in Archaea, flagella in Bacteria and cilia in Eukaryotes – wave, whip or rotate to propel microbes, overcoming diffusion and enabling colonization of new environments. The implementations of the three propulsive nanomachines are distinct, however: archaella and flagella rotate, while cilia beat or wave; flagella and cilia assemble at their tips, while archaella assemble at their base; archaella and cilia use ATP for motility, while flagella use ion-motive force. These underlying differences reflect the tinkering required to evolve a molecular machine, in which pre-existing machines in the appropriate contexts were iteratively co-opted for new functions and whose origins are reflected in their resultant mechanisms. Contemporary homologies suggest that archaella evolved from a non-rotary pilus, flagella from a non-rotary appendage or secretion system, and cilia from a passive sensory structure. Here, we review the structure, assembly, mechanism and homologies of the three distinct solutions as a foundation to better understand how propulsive nanomachines evolved three times independently and to highlight principles of molecular evolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Morgan Beeby
- Department of Life Sciences, Frankland Road, Imperial College of London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Josie L Ferreira
- Department of Life Sciences, Frankland Road, Imperial College of London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Patrick Tripp
- Molecular Biology of Archaea, Institute of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schaenzlestrasse 1, 79211 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Sonja-Verena Albers
- Molecular Biology of Archaea, Institute of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schaenzlestrasse 1, 79211 Freiburg, Germany
| | - David R Mitchell
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 E. Adams St., Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Abstract
The bacterial flagellar motor is driven by an ion flux that is converted to torque by motor-attendant complexes known as stators. The dynamics of stator assembly around the motor in response to external stimuli have been the subject of much recent research, but less is known about the evolutionary origins of stator complexes and how they select for specific ions. Here, we review the latest structural and biochemical data for the stator complexes and compare these with other ion transporters and microbial motors to examine possible evolutionary origins of the stator complex.
Collapse
|
5
|
Abstract
Cells from all three domains of life on Earth utilize motile macromolecular devices that protrude from the cell surface to generate forces that allow them to swim through fluid media. Research carried out on archaea during the past decade or so has led to the recognition that, despite their common function, the motility devices of the three domains display fundamental differences in their properties and ancestry, reflecting a striking example of convergent evolution. Thus, the flagella of bacteria and the archaella of archaea employ rotary filaments that assemble from distinct subunits that do not share a common ancestor and generate torque using energy derived from distinct fuel sources, namely chemiosmotic ion gradients and FlaI motor-catalyzed ATP hydrolysis, respectively. The cilia of eukaryotes, however, assemble via kinesin-2-driven intraflagellar transport and utilize microtubules and ATP-hydrolyzing dynein motors to beat in a variety of waveforms via a sliding filament mechanism. Here, with reference to current structural and mechanistic information about these organelles, we briefly compare the evolutionary origins, assembly and tactic motility of archaella, flagella and cilia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shahid Khan
- Molecular Biology Consortium, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
| | - Jonathan M Scholey
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California @ Davis, CA 95616, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Tu Y, Cao Y. Design principles and optimal performance for molecular motors under realistic constraints. Phys Rev E 2018; 97:022403. [PMID: 29548155 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.97.022403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The performance of a molecular motor, characterized by its power output and energy efficiency, is investigated in the motor design space spanned by the stepping rate function and the motor-track interaction potential. Analytic results and simulations show that a gating mechanism that restricts forward stepping in a narrow window in configuration space is needed for generating high power at physiologically relevant loads. By deriving general thermodynamics laws for nonequilibrium motors, we find that the maximum torque (force) at stall is less than its theoretical limit for any realistic motor-track interactions due to speed fluctuations. Our study reveals a tradeoff for the motor-track interaction: while a strong interaction generates a high power output for forward steps, it also leads to a higher probability of wasteful spontaneous back steps. Our analysis and simulations show that this tradeoff sets a fundamental limit to the maximum motor efficiency in the presence of spontaneous back steps, i.e., loose-coupling. Balancing this tradeoff leads to an optimal design of the motor-track interaction for achieving a maximum efficiency close to 1 for realistic motors that are not perfectly coupled with the energy source. Comparison with existing data and suggestions for future experiments are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuhai Tu
- IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA
| | - Yuansheng Cao
- Department of Physics, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Speed of the bacterial flagellar motor near zero load depends on the number of stator units. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:11603-11608. [PMID: 29078322 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1708054114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The bacterial flagellar motor (BFM) rotates hundreds of times per second to propel bacteria driven by an electrochemical ion gradient. The motor consists of a rotor 50 nm in diameter surrounded by up to 11 ion-conducting stator units, which exchange between motors and a membrane-bound pool. Measurements of the torque-speed relationship guide the development of models of the motor mechanism. In contrast to previous reports that speed near zero torque is independent of the number of stator units, we observe multiple speeds that we attribute to different numbers of units near zero torque in both Na+- and H+-driven motors. We measure the full torque-speed relationship of one and two H+ units in Escherichia coli by selecting the number of H+ units and controlling the number of Na+ units in hybrid motors. These experiments confirm that speed near zero torque in H+-driven motors increases with the stator number. We also measured 75 torque-speed curves for Na+-driven chimeric motors at different ion-motive force and stator number. Torque and speed were proportional to ion-motive force and number of stator units at all loads, allowing all 77 measured torque-speed curves to be collapsed onto a single curve by simple rescaling.
Collapse
|
8
|
Nirody JA, Berry RM, Oster G. The Limiting Speed of the Bacterial Flagellar Motor. Biophys J 2017; 111:557-564. [PMID: 27508439 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2016.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2015] [Revised: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 07/05/2016] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent experiments on the bacterial flagellar motor have shown that the structure of this nanomachine, which drives locomotion in a wide range of bacterial species, is more dynamic than previously believed. Specifically, the number of active torque-generating complexes (stators) was shown to vary across applied loads. This finding brings under scrutiny the experimental evidence reporting that limiting (zero-torque) speed is independent of the number of active stators. In this study, we propose that, contrary to previous assumptions, the maximum speed of the motor increases as additional stators are recruited. This result arises from our assumption that stators disengage from the motor for a significant portion of their mechanochemical cycles at low loads. We show that this assumption is consistent with current experimental evidence in chimeric motors, as well as with the requirement that a processive motor driving a large load via an elastic linkage must have a high duty ratio.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jasmine A Nirody
- Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
| | - Richard M Berry
- Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - George Oster
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Brenzinger S, Dewenter L, Delalez NJ, Leicht O, Berndt V, Paulick A, Berry RM, Thanbichler M, Armitage JP, Maier B, Thormann KM. Mutations targeting the plug-domain of the Shewanella oneidensis proton-driven stator allow swimming at increased viscosity and under anaerobic conditions. Mol Microbiol 2016; 102:925-938. [PMID: 27611183 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.13499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 possesses two different stator units to drive flagellar rotation, the Na+ -dependent PomAB stator and the H+ -driven MotAB stator, the latter possibly acquired by lateral gene transfer. Although either stator can independently drive swimming through liquid, MotAB-driven motors cannot support efficient motility in structured environments or swimming under anaerobic conditions. Using ΔpomAB cells we isolated spontaneous mutants able to move through soft agar. We show that a mutation that alters the structure of the plug domain in MotB affects motor functions and allows cells to swim through media of increased viscosity and under anaerobic conditions. The number and exchange rates of the mutant stator around the rotor were not significantly different from wild-type stators, suggesting that the number of stators engaged is not the cause of increased swimming efficiency. The swimming speeds of planktonic mutant MotAB-driven cells was reduced, and overexpression of some of these stators caused reduced growth rates, implying that mutant stators not engaged with the rotor allow some proton leakage. The results suggest that the mutations in the MotB plug domain alter the proton interactions with the stator ion channel in a way that both increases torque output and allows swimming at decreased pmf values.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susanne Brenzinger
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the IFZ, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Gießen, 35392, Germany.,Department of Ecophysiology, Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Marburg, 35043, Germany
| | - Lena Dewenter
- Department of Physics, Universität Köln, Cologne, 50674, Germany
| | | | - Oliver Leicht
- Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germany LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Marburg, 35043, Germany
| | - Volker Berndt
- Department of Ecophysiology, Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Marburg, 35043, Germany
| | - Anja Paulick
- Department of Ecophysiology, Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Marburg, 35043, Germany
| | - Richard M Berry
- Physics Department, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK
| | - Martin Thanbichler
- Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germany LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Marburg, 35043, Germany.,Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie & LOEWE Center für Synthetische Mikrobiologie, Marburg, 35043, Germany
| | | | - Berenike Maier
- Department of Physics, Universität Köln, Cologne, 50674, Germany
| | - Kai M Thormann
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the IFZ, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Gießen, 35392, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Altegoer F, Bange G. Undiscovered regions on the molecular landscape of flagellar assembly. Curr Opin Microbiol 2015; 28:98-105. [PMID: 26490009 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2015.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2015] [Revised: 08/27/2015] [Accepted: 08/28/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
The bacterial flagellum is a motility structure and one of the most complicated motors in the biosphere. A flagellum consists of several dozens of building blocks in different stoichiometries and extends from the cytoplasm to the extracellular space. Flagellar biogenesis follows a strict spatio-temporal regime that is guided by a plethora of flagellar assembly factors and chaperones. The goal of this review is to summarize our current structural and mechanistic knowledge of this intricate process and to identify the undiscovered regions on the molecular landscape of flagellar assembly.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Florian Altegoer
- LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology & Department of Chemistry, Philipps University Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse, C7, 35043 Marburg, Germany
| | - Gert Bange
- LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology & Department of Chemistry, Philipps University Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse, C7, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|