Sperm cells move through fluids that should stop them almost instantly, yet new research suggests they succeed by exploiting unusual properties of active living matter.

A tiny but powerful engine that propels the bacterium Bacillus subtilis through liquids is disengaged from the corkscrew-like flagellum by a protein clutch, scientists have learned. Scientists have ...

Most bacteria have flagella; they are threadlike appendages extending from the surface of many microbes. They help move the organism around, a function called motility, in a rotating motion. Enabling ...

Prokaryotic cells have evolved numerous machineries to swim through liquid or crawl over surfaces. Perhaps the most common of these are the well-studied bacterial flagella and the unrelated archaeal ...

We analysed L. mexicana flagellum length, structure and biochemical changes, using electron microscopy and cell lines-expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) fusions of axonemal proteins, ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A tiny but powerful engine that propels the bacterium Bacillus subtilis through liquids is disengaged from the corkscrew-like flagellum by a protein clutch, Indiana University ...

It has been long been known that bacteria swim by rotating their tail-like structure called the flagellum. (See the swimming bacteria in the figure.) The rotating motion of the flagellum is powered by ...