Formation of bacterial flagella. I. Demonstration of a functional flagellin pool in spirillum serpens and bacillus subtilis.

Martinez, R. J. (University of California, Los Angeles), and E. Z. Gordee. Formation of bacterial flagella. I. Demonstration of a functional flagellin pool in Spirillum serpens and Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 91:870-875. 1966-Exponentially growing cultures of Spirillum serpens and Bacillus subtilis regained motility and flagella within one generation after mechanical deflagellation. Regeneration of flagella occurred in both cultures in the presence of chloramphenicol at concentrations shown to inhibit flagellin synthesis. Cells labeled with C(14)-amino acids regenerated radioactive flagella in the presence of chloramphenicol. A conditional mutant of S. serpens (T-45) was isolated. This strain did not produce flagella when grown at 45 C, but formed the organelles upon temperature shift to 30 C, even in the presence of chloramphenicol. A reduction of intracellular antibody-precipitable flagellin counts in labeled S. serpens T-45 occurred concomitant with the generation of flagella at 30 C. The data suggest that the flagella of S. serpens and B. subtilis are formed from a pool of intracellular flagellin proteins.