Gliding Motility of Prokaryotes: Ultrastructure, Physiology, and Genetics

Burchard, Robert P.

doi:10.1146/annurev.mi.35.100181.002433

Cited by 155 publications

(127 citation statements)

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“…Previous reports have shown that swarming motility and gliding are more prominent when cells are grown on medium containing a low concentration of agar (Burchard, 1981 ;Hartzell & Youderian, 1995). Mycoplasmas of the genus Spiroplasma have a helical cell morphology and show rotating motility in viscous environments, which generates a diffuse colony morphology in 0n6 % agar (Cohen et al, 1989 ;Jacob et al, 1997).…”

Section: Colony Shapes In Low Agar Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Gliding motility, a movement by which cells attach to various matrices and slide on them, has been reported for several mycoplasma species, including Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pulmonis, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Mycoplasma genitalium and Mycoplasma mobile (Kirchhoff, 1992 ;Razin, 1995). Gliding motility has been reported for a variety of bacteria, for example Myxococcus and Flavobacterium species, as well as cyanobacteria (Burchard, 1981 ;Wall & Kaiser, 1999). Interestingly, the twitching motility and pathogenic determinants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Neisseria gonorrhoeae share essential genes with the gliding motility of Myxococcus (Youderian, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gliding mutants of Mycoplasma mobile: relationships between motility and cell morphology, cell adhesion and microcolony formation

et al. 2000

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The present study characterizes gliding motility mutants of Mycoplasma mobile which were obtained by UV irradiation. They were identified by their abnormal colony shapes in 01 % agar medium, showing a reduced number of satellite colonies compared to the wild-type. A total of ten mutants were isolated based on their colony phenotype. Using dark-field and electron microscopy, two classes of mutants, group I and group II, were defined. Cells of group I mutants had irregular, flexible and sometimes elongated head-like structures and showed a tendency to aggregate. Neither binding to glass nor gliding motility was observed in these mutants. Cells of group II mutants were rather spherical in shape, with the long axis reduced to 80 % and the short axis enlarged to 120 % of that of wild-type cells, respectively. Their gliding speed was 20 % faster than that of wild-type cells. Three of the ten mutants remained unclassified. Mutant m6 had a reduced binding activity to glass and a reduced gliding motility with 50 % of the speed of the wild-type strain. The ability of wild-type and mutant colonies to adsorb erythrocytes was found to correlate with the binding activity required for gliding, indicating that mycoplasma gliding depends on cytadherence-associated components. Finally, the ability to form microcolonies on surfaces was shown to correlate with the gliding activity, suggesting a certain role of gliding motility in the parasitic life-cycle of mycoplasmas.

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Section: Colony Shapes In Low Agar Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gliding mutants of Mycoplasma mobile: relationships between motility and cell morphology, cell adhesion and microcolony formation

et al. 2000

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“…Specifically, over 35 genes were identified as being involved in A motility, although none of these genes encoded obvious motility structures or machinery (143). Indeed, A motility best fits the definition of "gliding" motility, defined as "a translocation along solid bodies … during which no wriggling, contraction or peristaltic alterations are visible, the change of shape being restricted to bending …" (20). Over the years, many models have been suggested to explain A motility, but despite several decades of research, the molecular basis of A motility remains elusive.…”

Section: A Motilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Gliding Motility Revisited: How Do the Myxobacteria Move without Flagella?

Mauriello

Mignot

Yang

et al. 2010

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

124

141

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SUMMARY In bacteria, motility is important for a wide variety of biological functions such as virulence, fruiting body formation, and biofilm formation. While most bacteria move by using specialized appendages, usually external or periplasmic flagella, some bacteria use other mechanisms for their movements that are less well characterized. These mechanisms do not always exhibit obvious motility structures. Myxococcus xanthus is a motile bacterium that does not produce flagella but glides slowly over solid surfaces. How M. xanthus moves has remained a puzzle that has challenged microbiologists for over 50 years. Fortunately, recent advances in the analysis of motility mutants, bioinformatics, and protein localization have revealed likely mechanisms for the two M. xanthus motility systems. These results are summarized in this review.

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“…The macromolecular mechanism of this kind of cellular movement is still enigmatic. Several models have been proposed which offer diverse mechanomacromolecular and physico-chemical solutions of how bacterial gliding motility is established (Burchard, 1981(Burchard, , 1984Castenholz, 1982 ;Pate, 1988 ;Dworkin, 1996 ;Spormann, 1999). From the literature, it can be learned that gliding motility is a rather complex phenomenon, based on and influenced by an intrinsic apparatus responsible for mechanical work (Burchard et al, 1977 ;Pate & Chang, 1979 ;Lu$ nsdorf & Reichenbach, 1989), motility-supporting extracellular slime (Humphrey et al, 1979 ;Sutherland & Thomson, 1975 ;Sutherland, 1979 ;Gorski et al, 1993), components of the outer membrane (Gorski et al, 1992 ;Abbanat et al, 1986) and surface active compounds (Keller et al, 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frozen motion of gliding bacteria outlines inherent features of the motility apparatus

Lünsdorf

Schairer

2001

Microbiology

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High-resolution data of actively gliding wild-type bacteria of four different species and of four different gliding mutants of Myxococcus xanthus were obtained from scanning electron micrographs. By shock freezing and freeze drying, motility-associated surface patterns could be fixed and consequently distinct intermediate states of motion could be observed for the first time. It is shown that these topographic patterns are immediately lost when gliding motility is stopped by blocking the respiratory chain with potassium cyanide or sodium azide. From the surface topography, the mode of action of the gliding apparatus of all four bacterial species examined can be described as a twisted circularly closed ' band '. During gliding, groups of nodes of the supertwisted apparatus show evidence of travelling like waves along the trichomes. However, the spacing between the nodes is not constant but varies within a certain range. This indicates that they are flexibly modulated as a consequence of the gliding state of the individual trichome.

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Gliding Motility of Prokaryotes: Ultrastructure, Physiology, and Genetics

Cited by 155 publications

References 0 publications

Gliding mutants of Mycoplasma mobile: relationships between motility and cell morphology, cell adhesion and microcolony formation

Gliding mutants of Mycoplasma mobile: relationships between motility and cell morphology, cell adhesion and microcolony formation

Gliding Motility Revisited: How Do the Myxobacteria Move without Flagella?

Frozen motion of gliding bacteria outlines inherent features of the motility apparatus

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