The X-ray fiber diffraction pattern from L and R-type flagellar filaments and the refined electron density map of the R-type filament (an end on view of a 50 Å thick cross section) are esthetically peasing and information rich. Bacteria swim by rotating flagellar filaments. During the straight swimming phase, the flagellar filaments form a bundle behind the cell body, where the filaments are all in a left-handed supercoiled form, each acting as a propellar driven by a rotary motor at the base of the filament. The flagellar filament is a tubular structure composed of 11 protofilament strands, which are axially aligned arrays of subunits. Bacterial motility involves switching between the left and right supercoiled states of the flagellar filament. The 9 Å resolution electron density map of the R-type filament, refined from the X-ray data, reveals details of the supercoil important to bacterial mobility.

Reference: I. Yamashita, K.Hasegawa, H. Suzuki, F. Vonderviszr, Y. Mimori-Kiyosue and K. Namba. Nature Structural Biology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1998, pp 125-129.

Old series (1993-2017)
Editors: William L. Duax, Judith Flippen-Anderson

Contents of issue

Letter from the President

Crystallography and its support
Edward N. Baker
 

Letter to the Editor

History of Zeitschrift für Kristallographie
Matthias Guettinger
 

Letter to the Editor

Web utilities
Kate Crennell
 

Letter to the Editor

Crystallographica
Richard L. Glazer
 

Letter to the Editor

Symmetry therapy
Frank Hawthorne
 

Letter to the Editor

Peace
George Jeffrey
 

Editorial

Editorial
William L. Duax
 

Meeting report

Third fiber diffraction workshop
Rick Millane
 

IUCr activities

18th IUCr Congress Glasgow 1999
Chris Gilmore
 

IUCr activities

A proposal for the storage and dissemination of F (or F2) tables
J. D. DunitzF. H. HerbsteinR. E. Marsh
 

IUCr activities

Commission on Powder Diffraction
Bob CernikIan Madsen
 

Meeting report

Mexican crystallography
Adolfo E. Cordero Borboa
 

Meeting report

Neutron powder diffraction
Ian Swainson
 

Meeting report

Parma Powder Power
 

Meeting report

Down Under
Mitch Guss
 

Meeting report

The canSAS Workshop
Claudio Ferrero
 
 

Notice

Young Chemistry Writer Award
Lynsey Strouts
 

Notice

Honors
 

Miscellany

Notes
 
 

Miscellany

Creating crystals with plasmas
W.M. Itano et al.
 

Miscellany

Large-Cage Zeolite Structures
Xianhui Bu
 

Miscellany

For want of a crystal, a grant was lost
Peter C. PreuschJohn C. Norvell, James C. CassattMarvin Cassman
 

Miscellany

Instrument suppliers
Steve Norval
 

Notice

CSD in Spanish
Martin Martinez-Ripoll