Types of flagellar arrangement in bacteria

· Bacteriology
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While reading bacterial structures, you might have known that flagella are the organ of locomotion in bacteria. If bacteria do not possess flagella then they are non motile. For example, Klebsiella spp Shigella spp do not possess flagella hence they are nonmotile while those psoosessing flagella are Bacteria (especially gram negative bacilli) possess flagella with various types of arrangement. Here are few terms to describe the arrangement of flagella in gram negative bacilli.

Atrichous:  aflagellated or non flagellated e.g. Klebsiella spp

Monotrichous: single polar flagellum e.g. Vibrio chloreae

Amphitrichous: single flagellum present at both ends e.g. Alcaligenes faecalis

Lophotrichous: tuft of flagella present at one or both ends e.g. Spirilla

Peritrichous: flagella present all over the cell e.g. Salmonella Typhi (Salmonella enterica subsps enterica serovar Typhi) or Escherichia coli

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