The elusive engine in Myxococcus xanthus gliding motility

Mignot, Tâm

doi:10.1007/s00018-007-7176-x

Cited by 50 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Surface motility is found in many distantly related bacterial species (20), but it is not clear whether these organisms simply on May 11, 2018 by guest http://mmbr.asm.org/ utilize different motility mechanisms or whether gliding motility has a common origin involving a universal mechanism which then diverged in different motility systems (50,86). Clearly, the mollicutes, a class of bacteria distinguished by the absence of a cell wall, have evolved distinct motility mechanisms to accommodate their unusual surface architecture (86,90).…”

Section: Gliding Motility In Other Bacterial Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gliding Motility Revisited: How Do the Myxobacteria Move without Flagella?

Mauriello

Mignot

Yang

et al. 2010

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

126

141

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SUMMARY In bacteria, motility is important for a wide variety of biological functions such as virulence, fruiting body formation, and biofilm formation. While most bacteria move by using specialized appendages, usually external or periplasmic flagella, some bacteria use other mechanisms for their movements that are less well characterized. These mechanisms do not always exhibit obvious motility structures. Myxococcus xanthus is a motile bacterium that does not produce flagella but glides slowly over solid surfaces. How M. xanthus moves has remained a puzzle that has challenged microbiologists for over 50 years. Fortunately, recent advances in the analysis of motility mutants, bioinformatics, and protein localization have revealed likely mechanisms for the two M. xanthus motility systems. These results are summarized in this review.

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Section: Gliding Motility In Other Bacterial Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Clearly, the mollicutes, a class of bacteria distinguished by the absence of a cell wall, have evolved distinct motility mechanisms to accommodate their unusual surface architecture (86,90). What about other bacterial species?…”

Section: Gliding Motility In Other Bacterial Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gliding Motility Revisited: How Do the Myxobacteria Move without Flagella?

Mauriello

Mignot

Yang

et al. 2010

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

126

141

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“…A Myxococcus xanthus cell is a semirigid rod-shaped deltaproteobacterium that can move in either direction along its long axis on an agar substrate using a complex form of motility called gliding (12). If the agar surface is nutrient rich, M. xanthus will grow as a dense and highly motile population called a swarm.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Aggregation Dynamics during Myxococcus xanthus Development

et al. 2011

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Under starvation conditions, a swarm of Myxococcus xanthus cells will undergo development, a multicellular process culminating in the formation of many aggregates called fruiting bodies, each of which contains up to 100,000 spores. The mechanics of symmetry breaking and the self-organization of cells into fruiting bodies is an active area of research. Here we use microcinematography and automated image processing to quantify several transient features of developmental dynamics. An analysis of experimental data indicates that aggregation reaches its steady state in a highly nonmonotonic fashion. The number of aggregates rapidly peaks at a value 2-to 3-fold higher than the final value and then decreases before reaching a steady state. The time dependence of aggregate size is also nonmonotonic, but to a lesser extent: average aggregate size increases from the onset of aggregation to between 10 and 15 h and then gradually decreases thereafter. During this process, the distribution of aggregates transitions from a nearly random state early in development to a more ordered state later in development. A comparison of experimental results to a mathematical model based on the traffic jam hypothesis indicates that the model fails to reproduce these dynamic features of aggregation, even though it accurately describes its final outcome. The dynamic features of M. xanthus aggregation uncovered in this study impose severe constraints on its underlying mechanisms.

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“…Many models were proposed (60,61), but the latest results indicate that A-motility involves distributed motors and focal adhesion complexes, involving up to 40 proteins in a large multiprotein structural complex (62,63). Coiled-coil protein AglZ localizes in clusters at the leading cell pole and, as the cell moves, is transported toward the lagging cell pole, where clusters are disassembled (63).…”

Section: Other Roles For Mreb and The If-like Proteinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidimensional View of the Bacterial Cytoskeleton

et al. 2013

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bThe perspective of the cytoskeleton as a feature unique to eukaryotic organisms was overturned when homologs of the eukaryotic cytoskeletal elements were identified in prokaryotes and implicated in major cell functions, including growth, morphogenesis, cell division, DNA partitioning, and cell motility. FtsZ and MreB were the first identified homologs of tubulin and actin, respectively, followed by the discovery of crescentin as an intermediate filament-like protein. In addition, new elements were identified which have no apparent eukaryotic counterparts, such as the deviant Walker A-type ATPases, bactofilins, and several novel elements recently identified in streptomycetes, highlighting the unsuspected complexity of cytostructural components in bacteria. In vivo multidimensional fluorescence microscopy has demonstrated the dynamics of the bacterial intracellular world, and yet we are only starting to understand the role of cytoskeletal elements. Elucidating structure-function relationships remains challenging, because core cytoskeletal protein motifs show remarkable plasticity, with one element often performing various functions and one function being performed by several types of elements. Structural imaging techniques, such as cryo-electron tomography in combination with advanced light microscopy, are providing the missing links and enabling scientists to answer many outstanding questions regarding prokaryotic cellular architecture. Here we review the recent advances made toward understanding the different roles of cytoskeletal proteins in bacteria, with particular emphasis on modern imaging approaches.

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The elusive engine in Myxococcus xanthus gliding motility

Cited by 50 publications

References 80 publications

Gliding Motility Revisited: How Do the Myxobacteria Move without Flagella?

Gliding Motility Revisited: How Do the Myxobacteria Move without Flagella?

Quantifying Aggregation Dynamics during Myxococcus xanthus Development

Multidimensional View of the Bacterial Cytoskeleton

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