PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M L DePamphilis

Publications and source records attributed to M L DePamphilis.

113 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Fine structure and isolation of the hook-basal body complex of flagella from Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.

The hook-basal body complex comprising the basal end of purified intact flagella from Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis was studied in detail with an electron microscope. The E. coli hook can be described as having five or six concentric helical coils. The basal body from E. coli is 27 nm in length and consists of four rings, 22.5 nm in diameter, arranged in two pairs and mounted on a rod. The top pair of rings is connected near their periphery, resembling a closed cylinder. In B. subtilis the basal body looks like that from E. coli, except that the top pair of rings is missing. Hook-basal body complexes from both organisms could be isolated by dissociating the filaments with either urea or acid. Based on our results, two types of basal body structures are proposed, as exemplified by E. coli and B. subtilis, which directly reflect the structure of the gram-negative and gram-positive cell envelopes.

Acetates↗

Attachment of flagellar basal bodies to the cell envelope: specific attachment to the outer, lipopolysaccharide membrane and the cyoplasmic membrane.

A procedure is described for the purification of the Escherichia coli outer membrane (lipopolysaccharide or L membrane) with flagella still attached. The resulting lipopolysaccharide membrane was in the form of vesicles that had a trilaminar structure in thin section and contained about 55% lipopolysaccharide and 45% protein. T2 or T4 phage preadsorbed to E. coli were found attached to the purified lipopolysaccharide membrane. Flagella were bound to the purified lipopolysaccharide membrane specifically at the basal body ring closest to the hook (the L ring). The cytoplasmic membrane in preparations from osmotically lysed E. coli spheroplasts or Bacillus subtilis protoplasts was specifically attached to flagella at the basal body ring farthest from the hook (the M ring). In the E. coli preparation, lipopolysaccharide membrane was also present and was attached to the L ring. From these data and a knowledge of the structure and dimensions of the E. coli flagellar basal body and cell envelope, a model for flagellar attachment is deduced.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Dissociation and reassembly of Escherichia coli outer membrane and of lipopolysaccharide, and their reassembly onto flagellar basal bodies.

Purified lipopolysaccharide vesicles dissociate when treated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and then reassemble when dialyzed against Mg(2+). Purified outer, lipopolysaccharide membrane (L membrane) is partially dissociated by treatment with EDTA and fully dissociated upon further treatment with Triton X-100. Both the partially and fully dissociated L membrane can be reassembled by dialysis against Mg(2+). Reassembly of lipopolysaccharide or L membrane in the presence of intact flagella results in specific attachment of flagellar basal bodies to vesicles via the L and sometimes the M ring. Lipopolysaccharide and L membrane appear to be composed of substructures bound together by both Mg(2+) (divalent cation)-mediated and hydrophobic bonds.

Bacterial Proteins↗