Archaea swim using the archaellum (archaeal flagellum), a reversible rotary motor consisting of a torque-generating motor and a helical filament, which acts as a propeller. Unlike the bacterial flagellar motor (BFM), ATP (adenosine-5′-triphosphate) hydrolysis probably drives both motor rotation and filamentous assembly in the archaellum. However, direct evidence is still lacking due to the lack of a versatile model system. Here, we present a membrane-permeabilized ghost system that enables the manipulation of intracellular contents, analogous to the triton model in eukaryotic flagella and gliding Mycoplasma. We observed high nucleotide selectivity for ATP driving motor rotation, negative cooperativity in ATP hydrolysis, and the energetic requirement for at least 12 ATP molecules to be hydrolyzed per revolution of the motor. The response regulator CheY increased motor switching from counterclockwise (CCW) to clockwise (CW) rotation. Finally, we constructed the torque–speed curve at various [ATP]s and discuss rotary models in which the archaellum has characteristics of both the BFM and F₁-ATPase. Because archaea share similar cell division and chemotaxis machinery with other domains of life, our ghost model will be an important tool for the exploration of the universality, diversity, and evolution of biomolecular machinery.

使用古细菌（古细菌鞭毛）进行古细菌游动，古细菌是一种可逆的旋转马达，由产生扭矩的马达和螺旋状的细丝组成，用作螺旋桨。与细菌鞭毛马达（BFM）不同，ATP（腺苷5'-三磷酸）水解可能既驱动马达旋转，又驱动古细菌中的丝状组装。但是，由于缺乏通用的模型系统，仍然缺乏直接的证据。在这里，我们介绍了一个膜透化的鬼系统，它能够操纵细胞内的内容物，类似于真核鞭毛和滑行支原体中的特里顿模型。我们观察到驱动ATP旋转的核苷酸选择性高，ATP水解中的负协同性，以及每旋转一圈至少需要水解12个ATP分子的能量需求。响应调节器CheY将电动机从逆时针（CCW）切换到顺时针（CW）旋转。最后，我们构建了各种[ATP]处的扭矩-速度曲线，并讨论了旋转模型，其中古细菌具有BFM和F ₁ -ATPase的特征。由于古细菌与其他生命域具有相似的细胞分裂和趋化机制，因此我们的鬼模型将成为探索生物分子机制的普遍性，多样性和进化的重要工具。