Directed evolution of ancestral bacterial flagellar motors

该项目旨在产生关于细菌物种适应广泛环境变化的新知识。细菌鞭毛马达（BFM）是一种直径为40纳米的马达，它将自己构建在细菌膜中，旋转速度比一级方程式发动机快5倍，并在几毫秒内改变方向。该项目将把古代马达部件的祖先重建与蛋白质工程相结合，以了解不同物种中为BFM提供动力的不同离子通道如何选择不同的正离子。它将启发和指导未来的生物纳米技术制造。

This project aims to produce new knowledge concerning the adaptation of bacterial species to wide environmental changes. The bacterial flagellar motor (BFM) is a motor 40 nanometers in diameter that builds itself into bacterial membranes, rotates five times faster than a Formula One engine, and switches directions in milliseconds. . This project will combine ancestral reconstruction of ancient motor components with protein engineering to understand how the different ion channels that power the BFM in different species are selective for different positive ions. It will inspire and inform future manufacturing in bionanotechnology.