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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Investigating Flagella-Driven Motility in Escherichia coli by Applying Three Established Techniques in a Series
Published on: May 10, 2020
Unsolved motility looking for answer
1Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. tamm@bu.edu
Abstract:
A rod-like axostyle complex turns the anterior end of a termite flagellate, including the plasma membrane, continually in the same direction relative to the rest of the cell at speeds up to approximately 1 Hz. This motility provides direct visual evidence for the fluid nature of cell membranes. Torque is generated along the length of the axostyle complex by an unknown mechanism. Here I describe findings not published before and promising experiments that may help to solve this remarkable motility.
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