Bacterial motors respond to chemical signals with high sensitivity to control cell swimming behaviour. However, the established model that describes how this sensitivity arises is an equilibrium model, which is inconsistent with experimental findings. A model is now proposed in which high sensitivity results from non-equilibrium mechanical interactions within the motor.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Berg, H. C. E. coli in motion (Springer, 2004). This book reviews chemotaxis signal transduction and motor behaviour in the bacterium Escherichia coli.
Cluzel, P., Surette, M. & Leibler, S. An ultrasensitive bacterial motor revealed by monitoring signaling proteins in single cells. Science 287, 1652–1655 (2000). This paper identifies the high sensitivity of the flagellar motor to intracellular CheYp concentration.
Duke, T. A. J., Le Novère, N. & Bray, D. Conformational spread in a ring of proteins: a stochastic approach to allostery. J. Mol. Biol. 308, 541–553 (2001). This paper introduced conformational spread as a mechanism that could be responsible for the high sensitivity of the motor to CheYp concentration.
Tu, Y. Driven to peak. Nat. Phys. 13, 631–632 (2017). This News & Views outlines the experimental and theoretical results demonstrating that the motor switch decision is out of equilibrium.
Wadhwa, N. & Berg, H. C. Bacterial motility: machinery and mechanisms. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 20, 161–173 (2022). This review presents the various mechanisms that bacteria use to move and the use of cryo-electron microscopy to gain insight about motor structures.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Mattingly, H. H. et al. Mechanical origin for non-equilibrium ultrasensitivity in the bacterial flagellar motor. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03105-2 (2025).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
A non-equilibrium model for ultrasensitive switching in bacterial flagellar motors. Nat. Phys. 22, 19–20 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03125-y
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03125-y
