Bacterial chemotaxis - Escherichia coli ATCC 8739

Chemotaxis is the process by which cells sense chemical gradients in their environment and then move towards more favorable conditions. In chemotaxis, events at the receptors control autophosphorylation of the CheA histidine kinase, and the phosphohistidine is the substrate for the response regulator CheY, which catalyzes the transfer of the phosphoryl group to a conserved aspartate. The resulting CheY-P can interact with the switch mechanism in the motor. This interaction causes a change in behavior, such as in direction or speed of rotation of flagella.