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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 5, 2026

Fluorescence Live-cell Imaging of the Complete Vegetative Cell Cycle of the Slow-growing Social Bacterium Myxococcus xanthus

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Published on: June 20, 2018

How Myxobacteria Cooperate.

Pengbo Cao¹, Arup Dey¹, Christopher N Vassallo¹

¹Department of Molecular Biology University of Wyoming, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.

Journal of Molecular Biology

|August 10, 2015

Summary

Myxobacteria exhibit complex social behaviors like motility, predation, and development. Outer membrane exchange may regulate population homeostasis, facilitating their transition to multicellularity.

Keywords:

Myxococcus xanthus cell–cell communication cooperation outer membrane exchange

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Area of Science:

Microbiology
Evolutionary Biology
Cell Biology

Background:

Prokaryotes typically exist as unicellular organisms.
Cooperative behaviors evolve in related prokaryotic groups.
Myxobacteria are rare exceptions, exhibiting obligate multicellularity.

Purpose of the Study:

To describe major cooperative behaviors in myxobacteria.
To highlight recent discoveries in myxobacterial social behavior.
To explore the role of outer membrane exchange in multicellularity.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on myxobacterial cooperative behaviors.
Emphasis on recent findings regarding outer membrane exchange.
Analysis of evidence linking outer membrane exchange to population homeostasis.

Main Results:

Myxobacteria engage in cooperative motility, predation, and development.
Outer membrane exchange allows kin to share cellular contents.
Evidence suggests outer membrane exchange aids in regulating population homeostasis.

Conclusions:

Myxobacteria utilize diverse social strategies for group functions.
Outer membrane exchange is a key social tool for myxobacteria.
This mechanism facilitates cyclic transitions between unicellular and multicellular states.