Structural and functional studies of Helicobacter pylori flagellar motor

这个项目研究细菌鞭毛马达专门运动在粘性流体。冷冻断层扫描显示，它的显著特征是一个复杂的笼状蛋白质支架，据推测，它可以稳定电机的更宽的发力环，以维持更大的转弯力。目的是解开这个支架的组成和结构基础，使其能够招募更多的力量产生单元，以推进我们对细菌鞭毛运动机制的基本知识，以及关于大自然在高粘度条件下提高其性能的策略。这项研究有望为极性鞭毛马达如何在细菌中组装和发挥作用提供一个新的范例。

This project investigates the bacterial flagellar motor specialised for locomotion in viscous fluids. Its striking feature, revealed by cryo-tomography, is a complex cage-like protein scaffold that is hypothesised to stabilise the wider force-generating ring of the motor to sustain a larger turning force. The aim is to unravel the make-up of this scaffold and the structural basis for its ability to recruit more force-generating units, in order to advance our fundamental knowledge about the mechanism of the bacterial flagellar motor, and about strategies used by nature to increase its performance under high viscosity conditions. This research is expected to add a new paradigm for how polar flagellar motors assemble and function in bacteria.