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

SprB is a cell surface component of the Flavobacterium johnsoniae gliding motility machinery

Cells of the gliding bacterium Flavobacterium johnsoniae move rapidly over surfaces by an unknown mechanism. Transposon insertions in sprB resulted in cells that were defective in gliding. SprB is a highly repetitive 669-kDa cell surface protein, and antibodies against SprB inhibited the motility of wild-type cells. Polystyrene microspheres coated with antibodies against SprB attached to and were rapidly propelled along the cell surface, suggesting that SprB is one of the outermost components of the motility machinery. The movement of SprB along the cell surface supports a model of gliding motility in which motors anchored to the cell wall rapidly propel cell surface adhesins.

Actin-related proteins in Anabaena spp. and Escherichia coli

Actin has been described in all eukaryotic cells as the major microfilament cytoskeletal protein. Although prokaryotic cells do not have a cytoskeleton, proteins related to the latter have been found in different prokaryotic species. We have found prokaryotic actin-related proteins in the enterobacterium Escherichia coli and in the cyanobacteria Anabaena cylindrica and Anabaena variabilis. They were identified by the following criteria: (1) by cross-reaction with a fluorescent conjugated anti-actin (rat-brain) mAb by Western blot analysis (in total cellular extracts); (2) specific binding of acetone powder and soluble cellular extracts to DNase I; and (3) specific binding of cells and total cellular extracts to phalloidin. In E coli, specific binding of phalloidin labelled with rhodamine to cells was detected by spectrofluorometry. In total cellular extracts, three bands of 60, 43 and 35 kDa were weakly recognized by the mAb by Western blot analysis; this recognition increased when phalloidin was added to the extracts. Furthermore, three polypeptides of kDa were isolated by binding to DNase I, showing pI values of 6.7, 6.65 and 6.6, less acidic than all reported actin pI values. In A. cylindrica and A. variabilis, specific binding of phalloidin labelled with rhodamine to cells was also detected by spectrofluorometry. In total and soluble cellular extracts, the mAb recognized two bands of 45 and 40 kDa by Western blot analysis, but only the first was purified by binding to DNase I, and it showed three isoforms of pI values 6.8, 6.5 and 6.4. These results suggest the presence, in prokaryotes, of proteins with similar biochemical characteristics to eukaryotic actin.

Genetics of gliding motility and development in Myxococcus xanthus

Successful development in multicellular eukaryotes requires cell-cell communication and the coordinated spatial and temporal movements of cells. The complex array of networks required to bring eukaryotic development to fruition can be modeled by the development of the simpler prokaryote Myxococcus xanthus. As part of its life cycle, M. xanthus forms multicellular fruiting bodies containing differentiated cells. Analysis of the genes essential for M. xanthus development is possible because strains with mutations that block development can be maintained in the vegetative state. Development in M. xanthus is induced by starvation, and early events in development suggest that signaling stages have evolved to monitor the metabolic state of the developing cell. In the absence of these signals, which include amino acids, alpha-keto acids, and other intermediary metabolites, the ability of cells to differentiate into myxospores is impaired. Mutations that block genes controlling gliding motility disrupt the morphogenesis of fruiting bodies and sporogenesis in surprising ways. In this review, we present data that encourage future genetic and biochemical studies of the relationships between motility, cell-cell signaling, and development in M. xanthus.

Characterization of gliding motility in Flexibacter polymorphus

Motility of the marine gliding bacterium Flexibacter polymorphus was studied by using microcinematographic techniques. Following adhesion to a glass surface, multicellular filaments and individual cells usually began to glide within a few seconds at a speed of approximately 12 micron per second (at 23 degrees C). Adhesion to the glass surface was evidently mediated by multitudes of extremely fine extracellular fibrils. Gliding velocity was independent of filament length but directly related to electron-transport activity and substratum temperature in the range 3-35 degrees C. The rate of gliding was inversely related to medium viscosity, suggesting that the locomotor apparatus functions at constant torque. Forward motion was occasionally interrupted by direction reversals, somersaults (observed primarily in single cells of short filaments), or spinning of filaments tethered by one pole. The frequency of direction reversal was found to be an inverse function of filament length. Translational motility was invariably accompanied by sinistral revolution about the longitudinal axis of a filament. The sense and pitch of revolution were constant among filaments of different length. Polystyrene microspheres or India ink particles adsorbed to gliding cells were actively displaced in either direction, their movement tracing either a regular zigzag or helical path along the filament surface. Because microspheres were also observed to move on nonmotile filaments, particle translocation was evidently not obligatorily linked to gliding locomotion. Multiple particles adsorbed to a single filament often moved independently. The data are consistent with a motility mechanism involving limited motion in numerous mechanically independent (yet functionally coordinated) domains on the cell surface.

Photosensory behavior in procaryotes

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