Bacterial motors carefully studied; rapid repairs (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, November 24, 2022, 18:59 (729 days ago) @ David Turell

They are so vital they can be repaired quickl

https://phys.org/news/2022-11-uncovers-bacteria-ancient-mechanisms-self-repair.html

"The findings, published today in Science Advances, show how the flagellar—the ancient motor that powers the swimming ability of bacteria—can also help these tiny organisms adjust to conditions where their motility is impaired.

***

"The researchers from the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences are the first in the world to use CRISPR gene-editing technology to alter a flagellar motor. They used synthetic biology techniques to engineer a sodium motor onto the genome to create a sodium-driven swimming bacteria. They then tested and tracked the bacteria's ability to adapt when the environment was starved of sodium.

"Sodium is an ion, which means that it carries a charge. It is this charge that powers the flagellar motor via stators, or ion channels.

"The team found that the stators were able to rapidly self-repair the flagellar motor and restore movement. These findings could lead to new advances across the biological and medical science fields.

"'We showed that environmental changes can cause ion channels to react quickly," said lead author of the paper Dr. Pietro Ridone."

Comment: this shows active immediate adaptation. a must for a single cell organism. When bacteria first appeared this vital mechanism had to be present. Only by design.