Tug of War: Dynamics of Bacterial Flagellar Motor with Multiple Stators

Abstract

In a single flagellar motor, there are multiple stator units that drive the rotation of the flagellar filaments. Here, we introduce a “tug-of-war” model for the flagellar motor where each individual stator can generate either positive or negative torque depending on its relative mechano-chemical state with respect to the rotor. The key ingredient of our model is that the instantaneous chemical switching (stepping) rate of a stator depends on the torque it generates: stators that generate negative torque switch faster.