What do microbe rotors and stators look like?

For the first time scientists managed to obtain high-quality three-dimensional images of biological engines of natural origin

DailyTechInfo based on Gizmodo: These Are the First-Ever High-Res Images of Naturally Occurring Biological Motors

Scientists have known for a very long time that some species of bacteria and other microorganisms have tails called flagella, the movement of which allows them to move forward. But until recently, no one has been able to find out in all the details what exactly drives these parts of the bodies of bacteria. And only recently, researchers from Imperial College in London, led by Morgan Beeby, using electron cryotomography technology, obtained the first ever high-quality images of engines of natural origin, which somewhat resemble modern propulsion systems and consist of many different moving "parts".

The essence of electronic cryotomography technology is to place samples cooled to cryogenic temperature under the bell of an electron microscope. The immobility of the molecular structure at such a temperature allows you to take pictures from different angles and create a three-dimensional model based on them, even the most complex molecular formation.

In their research, scientists used bacteria of various species as samples and, as it turned out, each type of bacteria has a unique biological engine that differs from the engines of other bacteria in shape, size, complexity of structure, power, torque, rotation speed and other parameters.

A drawing from the article by Beeby et al. Diverse high-torque bacterial flagellar motors
assemble wider stator rings using a conserved protein scaffold (PNAS, 2016) – VM.

The only common feature of all biological motors is a system of fixed molecular rings, a kind of equivalent of the stator of a conventional electric motor. This molecular "stator" allows the engine to generate torque, which is transmitted to the rotating organs of bacteria – a kind of propellers pushing them forward.

Some of the bacteria have "stators" of sufficiently large sizes, which allows them to produce more power and torque. The largest "stator" can be seen in the bacterium Campylobacter, it is twice as large as the "stator" of the bacterium Salmonella, and the power generated by this engine is enough for the bacterium to move inside the intestines of a living organism.

The images obtained by scientists serve to expose the misconception that such biological machines are incredibly complex. Now, having information about the structure of biological engines of natural origin, scientists working in the field of nanorobotonics can create their own bio-engines with the necessary dimensions, rotation speed, power and other characteristics.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  21.03.2016