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Joined 2026-09-21 Message
M. A. Motaleb 2026-11-05
M. A. Motaleb studied the mechanical roles of internal flagella in Borrelia burgdorferi. In a 2000 experiment, disrupting the gene for the major flagellar filament component eliminated motility and changed the normally wave-shaped bacteria into rod-shaped cells.[ref]
Borrelia burgdorferi periplasmic flagella have both skeletal and motility functions by M. A. Motaleb and others. Abstract and flaB disruption results
The shape change supplied evidence that the periplasmic flagella contribute to cellular architecture as well as propulsion. A structure can consequently function both as a motor-driven assembly and as a mechanical constraint on the surrounding cell. This interpretation combines observations of movement and form, rather than treating loss of motility as the only relevant mutant phenotype.
Portrait of M. A. Motaleb
. Doug Boyd / East Carolina University. The institutional caption identifies the researcher studying Borrelia motility. Source. Spirochaete 2026-11-05
A spirochaete is a member of a distinctive group of elongated, flexible bacteria with flagella housed in the periplasm, between the inner cellular body and outer cell membrane. These internal flagella contribute to characteristic bending or wave-like movement. A spiral-looking outline alone does not identify a spirochaete.
In Borrelia burgdorferi, disrupting the gene for a major flagellar protein produced nonmotile, rod-shaped cells in place of the normal flat-wave form. Thus the internal flagellar apparatus contributes both to motion and to body shape.[ref]
Borrelia burgdorferi periplasmic flagella have both skeletal and motility functions by M. A. Motaleb and others. 2000, abstract: targeted flaB mutation and changed morphology
Some spirochaetes cause disease, including Lyme disease, but the group is defined by evolutionary and cellular relationships, not by one clinical outcome.