Isolation and Ultrastructural Study of the Flagellar Basal Body Complex fromRhodobacter sphaeroidesWS8 (Wild Type) and a Polyhook Mutant PG

Abstract

Filament-Hook-Basal Body (FHBB) complexes were isolated from the purple non-sulphur facultative anaerobic bacteriumRhodobacter sphaeroides(WS8) by lysozyme digestion of the cells followed by an alkaline treatment and ultracentrifugation, and they were analysed by electron microscopy. The structure is composed of a filament linked through an enlarged junction to the hook and a basal body composed of L and P rings, a rod, and a less well-defined cytoplasmic ring that has evidence of additional attached structures. Hook-basal body complexes isolated from a mutant (PG) which produces an extended hook but no filament shows basal body structures identical to those of wild-type FHBBs.