期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2006
卷号：103
期号：32
页码：11886-11891
DOI：10.1073/pnas.0602811103
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Bacteria switch the direction their flagella rotate to control movement. FliM, along with FliN and FliG, compose a complex in the motor that, upon binding phosphorylated CheY, reverses the sense of flagellar rotation. The 2.0-A resolution structure of the FliM middle domain (FliMM) from Thermotoga maritima reveals a pseudo-2-fold symmetric topology similar to the CheY phosphatases CheC and CheX. A variable structural element, which, in CheC, mediates binding to CheD ({alpha}2') and, in CheX, mediates dimerization ({beta}'x), has a truncated structure unique to FliM ({alpha}2'). An exposed helix of FliMM ({alpha}1) does not contain the catalytic residues of CheC and CheX but does include positions conserved in FliM sequences. Cross-linking experiments with site-directed cysteine mutants show that FliM self-associates through residues on {alpha}1 and {alpha}2'. CheY activated by BeF3- binds to FliM with {approx}40-fold higher affinity than CheY (Kd = 0.04 {micro}M vs. 2 {micro}M). Mapping residue conservation, suppressor mutation sites, binding data, and deletion analysis onto the FliMM surface defines regions important for contacts with the stator-interacting protein FliG and for either counterclockwise or clockwise rotation. Association of 33-35 FliM subunits would generate a 44- to 45-nm-diameter disk, consistent with the known dimensions of the C-ring. The localization of counterclockwise- and clockwise-biasing mutations to distinct surfaces suggests that the binding of phosphorylated CheY cooperatively realigns FliM around the ring.
