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Yukio Magariyama, Shigeru Sugiyama, Seishi Kudo, Bacterial swimming speed and rotation rate of bundled flagella, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Volume 199, Issue 1, May 2001, Pages 125–129, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6968.2001.tb10662.x
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Abstract
Swimming speed (v) and flagellar-bundle rotation rate (f) of Salmonella typhimurium, which has peritrichous flagella, were simultaneously measured by laser dark-field microscopy (LDM). Clear periodic changes in the LDM signals from a rotating bundle indicated in-phase rotation of the flagella in the bundle. A roughly linear relation between v and f was observed, though the data points were widely distributed. The ratio of v to f (v –f ratio), which indicates the propulsive distance during one flagellar rotation, was 0.27 μm (11% of the flagellar pitch) on average. The experimental v –f ratio was twice as large as the calculated one on the assumption that a cell had a single flagellum. A flagellar bundle was considered to propel a cell more efficiently than a single flagellum.