In this article we will discuss about the definition and locomotion of Flagella. Definition of Flagella: The motile bacterium may possess a flagellum (plural flagella). The flagellum is hair like helical and surface appendages emerging from the cell wall. It is of 20-30 nm in diameter and 15 µm long. It provides various types of motility to the bacterial cell. [...]
The structure of bacterial flagella have been described by Simon (1978), Doestsch and Sjoblad (1980) and Ferris and Beveridge (1985). A flagellum consists of three basic parts, the basal body, hook and filament (Fig. 4.3). (a) Basal body: M. L. De Pamphilis and J. Alder (1971) isolated the basal body of a flagellum of E. coli and B. subtilis and [...]
In this article we will discuss about the classification of pili. Mainly pili are of two types: (a) Common pili which act to adhere the cell to surfaces, and (b) Sex pili which join the other bacterial cell for transfer of genome. Ottow (1975) has classified the pili into the following six groups: Group 1: Fimbriae of this group act [...]