Bacterial Flagellar Polymorphic Transformation in Various Fluidic Environments
The translocation of bacterial flagella for use as nanoscale transducers for the detection of an assortment of environmental conditions in a microfluidic system. Bacteria as well as other microbiological entities have gained attention recently as non-conventional methods of nanoscale manufacturing, in particular the flagella filaments (Ø20nm × up to 10µm long) of bacteria has garnered much of this interest. Made out of the protein flagellin, flagella are comprised of eleven protofilaments of flagellin running along the axis of the filament. These protofilaments consist of flagellin monomers in series which must be oriented in one of two states. The ratio of these protofilament states within a single flagellum determines the flagellum’s overall polymorphic conformation. Differences in various environmental conditions stimulate the polymorphic helix structure of Salmonella typhimurium flagella to transform to its lowest energetic conformation therby changing its overall length and pitch. By measuring the ionic current blockage (resistive pulse) as flagella electrophoretically translocate a submicro-scale pore, detection of the polymorphic state of flagella corresponding to the conditions of the environmental stimuli is possible.
