Hook forms a universal joint, which mediates the torque of the flagellar mo
tor to the outer helical filaments, Domain organization of book protein fro
m Salmonella typhimurium was investigated by exploring thermal denaturation
properties of its proteolytic fragments, The most stable part of hook prot
ein involves residues 148 to 355 and consists of two domains, as revealed b
y deconvolution analysis of the calorimetric melting profiles, Residues 72-
147 and 356-370 form another domain, while the terminal regions of the mole
cule, residues 1-71 and 371-403, avoid a compact tertiary structure in the
monomeric state, These folding domains were assigned to the morphological d
omains-of hoot subunits known from EM image reconstructions, revealing the
overall folding of hook protein in its filamentous state, (C) 1999 Federati
on of European Biochemical Societies.