Force Measurement on Mycoplasma mobile Gliding Using Optical Tweezers

Dozens of Mycoplasma species, belonging to class Mollicutes form a protrusion at a pole as an organelle. They bind to solid surfaces through the organelle and glide in the direction by a unique mechanism including repeated cycles of bind, pull, and release with sialylated oligosaccharides on host animal cells. The mechanical characters are critical information to understand this unique mechanism involved in their infectious process. In this protocol, we describe a method to measure the force generated by Mycoplasma mobile, the fastest gliding species in Mycoplasma. This protocol should be useful for the studies of many kinds of gliding microorganisms.