Nature's Incredible ROTATING MOTOR (It’s Electric!) - Smarter Every Day 300

Summary by Krater

Smarter Every Day visits Vanderbilt University to explore the cryo-EM structure and mechanics of the bacterial flagellar motor, talking with researchers Prashant Singh and Tina Iverson.

From the video

Answers: How does the bacterial flagellar motor work and how do scientists image it?

• Bacterial flagellar motor structure
• Cryo-electron microscopy
• Chemotaxis mechanism
• MotAB stator complex
• Protein structure determination

What it concludes

• The bacterial flagellar motor uses a proton gradient across the inner membrane to generate torque and rotate.
• CheY protein binds to the motor to encourage it to turn in a clockwise direction.
• Cryo-electron microscopy allows researchers to image bacterial flagellar motor structures down to the amino acid level by combining 2D class averages into 3D models.