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Flexural Rigidity Measurements of Biopolymers Using Gliding Assays
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Characterization of gliding motility in Flexibacter polymorphus.

H F Ridgway1, R A Lewin

  • 1Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla.

Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton
|January 1, 1988
PubMed
Summary

Marine gliding bacteria Flexibacter polymorphus use extracellular fibrils for adhesion and glide via a mechanism involving coordinated cell surface domains. Their motility is influenced by temperature, electron transport, and viscosity.

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Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Cell Biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Flexibacter polymorphus is a marine bacterium known for its gliding motility.
  • Understanding the mechanisms of bacterial motility is crucial for microbiology and cell biology.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the motility mechanisms of the marine gliding bacterium Flexibacter polymorphus.
  • To elucidate the factors influencing gliding velocity and the nature of the locomotor apparatus.

Main Methods:

  • Microcinematographic techniques were employed to observe bacterial movement.
  • Experiments involved varying temperature, medium viscosity, and observing particle translocation on cell surfaces.

Main Results:

  • Gliding velocity was approximately 12 microns per second, influenced by temperature and electron-transport activity, but independent of filament length.
  • Motility involved adhesion via extracellular fibrils and was linked to constant torque, with occasional direction reversals and somersaults.
  • Cell surface particle translocation occurred independently of gliding, suggesting localized motility domains.

Conclusions:

  • The motility of Flexibacter polymorphus involves a complex mechanism likely based on numerous independent yet coordinated domains on the cell surface.
  • Extracellular fibrils play a key role in adhesion, facilitating gliding locomotion.
  • Gliding velocity is a function of physiological state and environmental conditions, not solely filament length.