High-Resolution Structure and Intermolecular Interactions between L-type Straight Flagellar Filaments

TL;DR

This study elucidates the high-resolution structure and intermolecular forces of straight flagellar filaments in Salmonella Typhimurium SJW1660, combining SAXS, osmotic stress, and simulations to understand their assembly and interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed atomic-level model of straight flagellar filaments and analyzes the intermolecular forces governing their dense hexagonal bundling.

Findings

Revealed the exact helical arrangement of flagellin monomers.

Quantified electrostatic, hydration, and elastic contributions to filament interactions.

Confirmed the structure-factor scattering peak line-shape in aligned bundles.

Abstract

Bacterial mobility is powered by rotation of helical flagellar filaments driven by rotary motors. Flagellin isolated from {\it Salmonella Typhimurium} SJW1660 strain, which differs by a point mutation from the wild-type strain, assembles into straight filaments in which flagellin monomers are arranged into left-handed helix. Using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and osmotic stress methods, we investigated the high-resolution structure of SJW1660 flagellar filaments as well as intermolecular forces that govern their assembly into dense hexagonal bundle. The scattering data were fitted to high-resolution models, which took into account the atomic structure of the flagellin subunits. The analysis revealed the exact helical arrangement and the super-helical twist of the flagellin subunits within the filaments. Under osmotic stress the filaments formed $2D$ hexagonal bundles. Monte-Carlo simulations and continuum theories were used to analyze the scattering data from hexagonal arrays, revealing how bulk modulus, as well as how the deflection length depends on the applied osmotic stress. Scattering data from aligned flagellar bundles confirmed the predicated structure-factor scattering peak line-shape. Quantitative analysis of the measured equation of state of the bundles revealed the contributions of the electrostatic, hydration, and elastic interactions to the intermolecular interactions associated with bundling of straight semi-flexible flagellar filaments.}%1 {Insert Received for publication Date and in final form Date.