The effects of temperature and force on the gliding speed of Mycoplasma mobile were examined. Gliding speed increased linearly as a function of temperature from 0.46 m/s at 11.5°C to 4.0 m/s at 36.5°C. A polystyrene bead was attached to the tail of M. mobile using a polyclonal antibody raised against whole M. mobile cells. Cells attached to beads glided at the same speed as cells without beads. When liquid flow was applied in a flow chamber, cells reoriented and moved upstream with reduced speeds. Forces generated by cells at various gliding speeds were calculated by multiplying their estimated frictional drag coefficients with their velocities relative to the liquid. The gliding speed decreased linearly with force. At zero speed, the force measurements extrapolated to 26 pN at 22.5 and 27.5°C. At zero force, the speed extrapolated to 2.3 and 3.3 m/s at 22.5 and 27.5°C, respectively-the same speeds as those observed for free gliding cells. Cells attached to beads were also trapped by an optical tweezer, and the stall force was measured to be 26 to 28 pN (17.5 to 27.5°C). The gliding speed depended on temperature, but the maximum force did not, suggesting that the mechanism is composed of at least two steps, one that generates force and another that allows displacement. Other implications of these results are discussed.Mycoplasmas are parasitic bacteria with a small genome and no peptidoglycan layer (27). Several mycoplasma species have a distinct cell polarity characterized by a protruding membrane extension, the attachment organelle (27). They are able to attach to and glide on glass, plastic, and eukaryotic cell surfaces, always moving in the direction of the organelle (19). The gliding mechanism is unknown. Mycoplasmas do not have any appendages such as flagella or pili (19) or any genes obviously related to motility, including motor proteins such as myosin or kinesin (7, 10, 13). However, a transmembrane protein associated with a cytoskeleton-like structure has been shown to be necessary for glass binding in Mycoplasma pneumoniae (22).Mycoplasma mobile, isolated from a fish gill organ, has a conical cell structure, with the attachment organelle at the apex of the cone. It glides up to four cell lengths per second (2.5 m/s) in the direction of the apex, which is designated as a head-like structure (30). However, little is known about force generation (28,29). In this study, to characterize its gliding motility, we attached a bead to the tail end of M. mobile and measured the gliding force as a function of speed using viscous flow and an optical tweezer.
MATERIALS AND METHODSCultivation. M. mobile strain 163K (ATCC 43663) was grown as described previously (25).Measurements of gliding speed. M. mobile cells in a culture at an optical density at 600 nm of 0.03 to 0.1 were collected by centrifugation at 10,000 ϫ g for 4 min at room temperature and resuspended in a fivefold-smaller volume of medium. A 5-l aliquot was sealed between a coverslip and a slide within a thin ring of Apiezon M grease (Apiezon Products, L...