Transmission of a signal that synchronizes cell movements in swarms of Myxococcus xanthus

We offer evidence for a signal that synchronizes the behavior of hundreds of Myxococcus xanthus cells in a growing swarm. Swarms are driven to expand by the periodic reversing of direction by members. By using time-lapse photomicroscopy, two organized multicellular elements of the swarm were analyzed: single-layered, rectangular rafts and round, multilayered mounds. Rafts of hundreds of cells with their long axes aligned in parallel enlarge as individual cells from the neighborhood join them from either side. Rafts can also add a second layer piece by piece. By repeating layer additions to a raft and rounding each layer, a regular multilayered mound can be formed. About an hour after a five-layered mound had formed, all of the cells from its top layer descended to the periphery of the fourth layer, both rapidly and synchronously. Following the first synchronized descent and spaced at constant time intervals, a new fifth layer was (re)constructed from fourth-layer cells, in very close proximity to its old position and with a number of cells similar to that before the "explosive" descent. This unexpected series of changes in mound structure can be explained by the spread of a signal that synchronizes the reversals of large groups of individual cells.