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Updated: May 21, 2025

Preparation, Imaging, and Quantification of Bacterial Surface Motility Assays
Published on: April 7, 2015
Pseudomonas syringae Socially Induced Swimming Motility Requires the Molybdenum Cofactor
Zichu Yang1, Bryan Swingle1,2
1Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Abstract:
Social interactions among bacteria can induce behaviors that affect their fitness and influence how complex communities assemble. Here we report a new socially induced motility behavior that we refer to as baited expansion in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst DC3000), a plant pathogenic bacterium. We found Pst DC3000 displayed strongly induced swimming motility towards nearby colonies of Dickeya dianthicola or Escherichia coli . We developed a controlled system to visualize and characterize the development of baited expansion. Our results provide evidence that baited expansion behavior occurs in response to a chemical gradient established and maintained by the bait colony. We also found this behavior correlated with distinct transcriptional profiles and identified molybdenum cofactor (Moco) and a Moco-utilizing oxidoreductase as crucial factors facilitating the baited expansion behavior.
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