Structural study of the torque-generating unit in the bacterial flagellar motor

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The bacterial flagellum is a rotary motor powered by the electrochemical potential of specific ions across the cytoplasmic membrane. There is little information about its working mechanism of this biological motor, the information which could be useful for biological science and nano-technology. In Vibrio, an inner membrane complex, PomAB, converts Na+ flux into rotation of the flagellum. We have been studying the structure of PomAB by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy to elucidate the working mechanism of this energy conversion system.