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Following the Behavior of the Flagellar Rotary Motor Near Zero Load

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Abstract

At room temperature at stall, the flagellar motor of the bacterium Escherichia coli exerts a torque of ~1,300 pN nm. At zero external load, it spins ~330 Hz. A robust method for studying the motor near zero load is reviewed here.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant AI016478.

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Correspondence to J. Yuan.

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Yuan, J., Berg, H.C. Following the Behavior of the Flagellar Rotary Motor Near Zero Load. Exp Mech 50, 1263–1265 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-009-9290-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-009-9290-1

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