Team:Paris/Flagella

Description of the genetic pathway that lead to flagella assembly

Figure 1 : The genetically defined hierarchy of the flagellar operons in Escherichia coli.

The construction of E. coli flagellar system is organized into a complex hierarchy. The different parts of the flagella are successively assembled parts by parts. This architecture is also present in the network of genes that contributes to its set-up. A global transcription factor FlhDC activates the synthesis of the flagella. This class 1 gene encodes a protein that activates the expression of class 2 genes. Those genes lead to the construction of the basal body of the flagella and its hook. Then FliA, a protein coded by a class 2 gene activates, with FlhDC to the expression of class 3 genes (Figure 1).

Bibliography

• Kalir et al. (2001)
• Kalir et al. (2004)