Deciphering Flagellum: Insights into Composition and Evolution
Author: Eric Wong
Faculty Supervisor: José R. de la Torre
Department: Biology
Formerly known as Halobacterium Halobium, H. salinarum is a motile member of the extreme halophilic archaea, an important model organism for the study of halophiles, they live in highly saline environments. This study seeks to present a concise analysis of flagellum composition and function and how it underscores the diversity of flagellar composition across different organisms and highlight its evolutionary significance. By employing multiple sequence alignment, we can compare between different traits to understand the evolutionary history and current relatedness of different organisms. This is significant as scientists have long thought that archaeal flagella are generalized and used by most archaea which as it turns out is not the case. When H. salinarum flagellins were cloned and sequenced, five different genes, all encoding proteins that showed no significant sequence similarity to any protein. Not much is known of the intracellular organization of archaeal cells. This researcher hypothesized that based on compositional differences in flagellum, it will have different methods of movement. This study seeks to contribute to the broader understanding of cellular biology and opens avenues for exploiting flagellar components in diverse technological and biomedical contexts.