I have previously outlined a few of the key mechanisms undergirding flagellar assembly, and the remarkable process of bacterial chemotaxis by which bacteria change direction in response to chemical signals. There are, of course, a number of different variants in those systems. If you thought that these remarkable mechanisms bear a strong resemblance to an intelligently engineered system, you’re going to love the molecular clutch of Bacillus subtilis (illustrated above), reported by Blair et al. (2008).

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