flagellum

Examples of flagellum in the following topics:

• Opisthokonts: Animals and Fungi

  • One common characteristic of opisthokonts is that flagellate cells, such as most animal sperm and chytrid spores, propel themselves with a single posterior flagellum .
  • Most fungi do not produce cells with flagellae, but the primitive fungal chytrids do, suggesting that a common ancestor of current fungal species did have a flagellum.
  • Here is a depiction of a unicellular organism with a flagellum.
  • Flagellum are a typical structure found on opisthokonts, sometimes at only specific points of the a life cycle.

• Chemotaxis

  • Clockwise rotation - breaks the flagella bundle apart such that each flagellum points in a different direction, causing the bacterium to tumble in place.
  • Many bacteria, such as Vibrio, are monoflagellated and have a single flagellum at one pole of the cell.
  • Others possess a single flagellum that is kept inside the cell wall.
  • CheY induces tumbling by interacting with the flagellar switch protein FliM, inducing a change from counter-clockwise to clockwise rotation of the flagellum.
  • Change in the rotation state of a single flagellum can disrupt the entire flagella bundle and cause a tumble.

• Morphologically Unusual Proteobacteria

  • One daughter is a mobile "swarmer" cell that has a single flagellum at one cell pole that provides swimming motility for chemotaxis.
  • One daughter is a mobile "swarmer" cell that has a single flagellum at one cell pole that provides swimming motility for chemotaxis.

• Adherence

  • In bacteriology, a fimbria (plural fimbriae; abbreviated FIM) is an appendage composed of curlin proteins that can be found on many Gram-negative and some Gram-positive bacteria that is thinner and shorter than a flagellum.

• Caulobacter Differentiation

  • One daughter is a mobile "swarmer" cell that has a single flagellum at one cell pole that provides swimming motility for chemotaxis.