Diving into the complexity of the spirochetal endoflagellum

Fabiana San Martin (1, 2) , Lenka Fule (2, 3) , Gregorio Iraola (1, 4, 5) , Alejandro Buschiazzo (1, 2) , Mathieu Picardeau (2, 3)

1 Institut Pasteur de Montevideo
2 IMiZA - Integrative Microbiology of Zoonotic Agents [Paris and Montevideo]
3 Biologie des Spirochètes / Biology of Spirochetes
4 Universidad Mayor [Santiago de Chile]
5 The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute [Cambridge]

Spirochaetes, a phylum that includes medically important pathogens such as the causative agents of Lyme disease, syphilis, and leptospirosis, are in many ways highly unique bacteria. Their cell morphology, subcellular organization, and metabolism reveal atypical features. Spirochetal motility is also singular, dependent on the presence of periplasmic flagella or endoflagella, inserted subterminally at cell poles and not penetrating the outer membrane and elongating outside the cell as in enterobacteria. In this review we present a comprehensive comparative genomics analysis of endoflagellar systems in spirochetes, highlighting recent findings on the flagellar basal body and filament. Continued progress in understanding the function and architecture of spirochetal flagella is uncovering paradigm-shifting mechanisms of bacterial motility.

Keywords: endoflagellum; motility; phylum Spirochaetes; genomics; Borrelia; Leptospira

Domains: Microbiology and Parasitology

Fabiana San Martin, Lenka Fule, Gregorio Iraola, Alejandro Buschiazzo, Mathieu Picardeau. Diving into the complexity of the spirochetal endoflagellum. Trends in Microbiology, 2023, 31 (3), pp.294-307. ⟨10.1016/j.tim.2022.09.010⟩. ⟨pasteur-04117804⟩