By using their hair-like projections as a slingshot, bacteria can quickly swerve.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria clump together to form biofilms during pneumonia infection and rely on small appendages called pili to attach to surfaces and pull themselves forwards. Gerard Wong at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his group used video microscopy to track the trajectories of the leading and trailing poles of P. aeruginosa cells. They propose that the bacteria can also use the pili to change direction. The rapid release of a single tethered pilus provides enough force to spin a bacterium around.
The authors think that this fast slingshot action helps the microbes to move through the viscous maze of polysaccharides they secrete when forming biofilms.
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Bacteria whip around corners. Nature 475, 427 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/475427e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/475427e
