Heterogeneity and multi-scale dynamics in the molecular bearing of the bacterial flagellum

The bacterial flagellum is a protein-based rotary machine that drives bacterial motility. It comprises the bacterial flagellar motor (BFM), consisting of a stator which is anchored to the cell wall and a rotor in the cytoplasmic membrane, linked via the flagellar rod to the extracellular hook and filament. We observe passive rotational diffusion of six individual Escherichia coli flagella lacking torque-generating units via polarization microscopy of single gold nanorods attached to the hook, sampled at 250 kHz. Transitions across energy barriers of the 26-fold symmetric LP-ring/rod flagellar bearing exhibit highly non-Poissonian kinetics spanning four orders of magnitude in time scale. At sub-millisecond timescales we observe anomalous ultra-slow diffusion typically associated with disordered systems, despite the ordered crystalline atomic structure of the bearing revealed by cryo-Electron Microscopy. Over longer periods, we observe dynamic shifts in the preferred angular positions, indicating that the bearing’s energy landscape evolves over time.