The bacterial flagellar motor is a rotary motor complex composed of various proteins. MotX and MotY are essential for the Na+-driven flagellar motor motility of Vibrio, Shewanella and Aeromonas species. MotY is main component for T-ring formation and absence of MotY completely disrupt the T-ring formation [1]. This is the N-terminal domain of MotY which is shown to be essential for motility and responsible for the interaction with both MotX and the basal body. Functional analysis suggests that MotY-N connects the basal body to MotX and that the PomA/PomB complex associates with MotX to form the functional stator complex around the rotor. MotY-N alone does not associate strongly with the basal body, but the partial T-ring structure made of the MotY-N/MotX complex is sufficient to allow at least a few PomA/PomB stator complexes to be incorporated into the motor [2].

1: Mutational analysis and overproduction effects of MotX, an essential component for motor function of Na+-driven polar flagella of Vibrio. Takekawa N, Kojima S, Homma M; J Biochem. 2017;161:159-166. PMID:28173168

2: Insights into the stator assembly of the Vibrio flagellar motor from the crystal structure of MotY. Kojima S, Shinohara A, Terashima H, Yakushi T, Sakuma M, Homma M, Namba K, Imada K; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008;105:7696-7701. PMID:18505842