Structure and function of chemotactic transducer proteins

Barcterial chemotaxis is a transient response of an organism in a situation where environmental homogeneity has been disturbed by certain chemical compounds. The phenomenon has been described in motile bacterial species including enteric bacteria, Gram-positives(14), Spirochaetes (6) and even Archaebacteria (8). However, most comprehensive studies have been done with Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. Two analogies to higher eucaryotic sensory phenomena are provided by the study of bacterial chemotaxis. First, bacterial chemotaxis is similar to the stimulus-response of neuronal, immune and sperm cells. Second, studies of individual components involved in the bacterial sensory pathway can contribute to the understanding of the function of receptors, controling signals and molecular comparators in transmembrane signalling system. The bacterial sensory transducer, a chemoreceptor in a broad sense, is a unique entity for studying sensory function in which sensory reception, signalling and adaptation are integrated (7,18).