Micro-video study of discontinuous growth of bacterial flagellar filaments in vitro

In a microscope slide preparation, monomeric flagellins were found to polymerize into flagellar filaments spontaneously, without addition of seeds. Dynamic images of individual growing filaments in a dark-field light microscope were recorded throughout their growth by an ultrasensitive video camera. Each filament had its own unique growth curve. The growth curves consisted of two kinds of discrete phase; namely, the elongation and the rest phase. In the former, a filament elongates at a constant rate, fairly similar among all filaments. In the latter, elongation stops completely. Each filament exists in either of the two phases and alternates between them in a stochastic manner. A mean elongation rate of 89 + 15 nm per minute was obtained at the flagellin concentration of 2 mg/ml, for filaments in the elongation phase.