Motility in normal and filamentous forms of Rhodospirillum rubrum

By suitable choice of medium, Rhodospirillum rubrum has been grown both in normal (length 2 mum) and filamentous (length up to 60 mum) forms. Both forms were highly motile, and negatively-stained preparations showed bipolar flagellated cells, with an average of seven flagella at each pole. Motion consisted of a series of runs and tumbles, the ditribution of run time-lengths being Poissonian. Both forms tumbled in response to dark shock and showed negative chemotaxis to oxygen. The observation that the motility pattern was very similar in normal and filamentous forms makes chemical control of tumbling unlikely and favours a system involving membrane potentials.