Flagella
By Byonek
2024-09-06
Flagella are long, whip-like projections on certain unicellular organisms. There are two main types of flagella. Eukaryotic flagella are structurally identical to cilia. They swing back and forth to move the cell. An example of a cell that uses eukaryotic flagella is the sperm cell. The other type of flagella are bacterial flagella. Bacterial flagella use the only example of a rotating motor in living organisms. The motor is powered by the flow of protons across the cell membrane. It causes the flagellum to rotate like a screw or a propeller and move the bacterium. Bacteria can have one or more flagella.