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Evidence for contractile flexing of the gliding bacterium Flexibacter FS-1

Nature volume 298, pages 663–665 (1982)Cite this article

Abstract

Flexing movements have been described in a variety of gliding bacteria and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)1–7. Flexing of trichomes (chains of cells) of the genera Oscillatoria and Beggiatoa was attributed8 to a “certain degree of elasticity”; it was concluded that there is no spontaneous flexibility. In contrast, observations of active flexing of free ends of otherwise immobilized Oscillatoria trichomes suggested9 that active contractions are involved. It has been proposed that flexing and gliding motility are powered by the same mechanism10. No organelles have been demonstrated irrefutably to be responsible for these movements, although several mechanistic hypotheses have been proposed11. I demonstrate here that flexing movements by the bacterium Flexibacter FS-1 require no more than one point of attachment by the cell to its substratum, which suggests that flexing may result from a unilateral, longitudinal contraction. As the same motility mechanism is thought to operate for both flexing and gliding, the latter may be powered by a contractile apparatus, at least in this species.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Catonsville, Maryland, 21228, USA

    Robert P. Burchard

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Burchard, R. Evidence for contractile flexing of the gliding bacterium Flexibacter FS-1. Nature 298, 663–665 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/298663a0

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