# Coupling gene regulation to flagellar morphogenesis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2022 · $425,475

## Abstract

Abstract
The bacterial flagellum is essential for motility and virulence for Gram-negative pathogens.
Flagellum assembly is complex and coupled to the controlled expression of more than 70 genes
in the flagellar and chemotaxis regulon. It takes many cell generations to assemble a completed
flagellum. For 30 years my lab has investigated mechanisms that couple flagellar gene expression
to assembly and the associated type III secretion (T3S) system. T3S is the only secretion system
in Biology that undergoes a secretion-substrate transition from one class of secretion-substrates
to another. One focus of this grant application is to determine the mechanism of the secretion-
specificity switch in flagellar and the related virulence-specific injectisome T3S systems. The
research will also determine how specific proteins are selected from the thousands present in the
cytoplasm and targeted for T3 secretion. We will also characterize key gaps in the understanding
of how flagellar gene regulation is coupled to assembly and how the entire flagellar regulon
responds to global gene regulatory systems.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10434877
- **Project number:** 5R01GM056141-24
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** KELLY T HUGHES
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $425,475
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1998-08-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10434877

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10434877, Coupling gene regulation to flagellar morphogenesis (5R01GM056141-24). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10434877. Licensed CC0.

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