Multicellular development and gliding motility in Myxococcus xanthus
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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Fluorescence Live-cell Imaging of the Complete Vegetative Cell Cycle of the Slow-growing Social Bacterium Myxococcus xanthus
Published on: June 20, 2018
1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Medical School, 6431 Fannin, 1.765 JFB, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Heidi.B.Kaplan@uth.tmc.edu
Abstract:
A great deal of progress has been made in the studies of fruiting body development and social gliding in Myxocococcus xanthus in the past few years. This includes identification of the bone fide C-signal and a receptor for type IV pili, and development of a model for the mechanism of adventurous gliding motility. It is anticipated that the next few years will see even more progress as the complete genome sequence is available and genomic and proteomic tools are applied to the study of M. xanthus social behaviors.
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