Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 31, 2026

Myosin-Specific Adaptations of In vitro Fluorescence Microscopy-Based Motility Assays
Published on: February 4, 2021
Prospects for the gliding mechanism of Mycoplasma mobile
Makoto Miyata1, Tasuku Hamaguchi1
1Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan.
Abstract:
Mycoplasma mobile forms gliding machinery at a cell pole and glides continuously in the direction of the cell pole at up to 4.5μm per second on solid surfaces such as animal cells. This motility system is not related to those of any other bacteria or eukaryotes. M. mobile uses ATP energy to repeatedly catch, pull, and release sialylated oligosaccharides on host cells with its approximately 50-nm long legs. The gliding machinery is a large structure composed of huge surface proteins and internal jellyfish-like structure. This system may have developed from an accidental combination between an adhesin and a rotary ATPase, both of which are essential for the adhesive parasitic life of Mycoplasmas.
More Related Videos
11:45Fluorescence Live-cell Imaging of the Complete Vegetative Cell Cycle of the Slow-growing Social Bacterium Myxococcus xanthus
Published on: June 20, 2018
08:44Visualization of Twitching Motility and Characterization of the Role of the PilG in Xylella fastidiosa
Published on: April 8, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Intracellular Movement of Viruses and Bacteria
Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
Role of Myosin in Cell Migration
Myosin II is a hexamer comprising two heavy chains with globular heads and coiled-coil tails, two regulatory light chains, and two essential light chains. The ATPase sites on the myosin heads hydrolyze ATP, and the released phosphate generates the force for contraction....
Bacterial Phylum Tenericutes
Microtubules in Cell Motility