Bacteria glide across solid surfaces by mechanisms that have remained largely mysterious despite decades of research. In the deltaproteobacterium Myxococcus xanthus, this locomotion allows the formation stress-resistant fruiting bodies where sporulation takes place. However, despite the large number of genes identified as important for gliding, no specific machinery has been identified so far, ...

Clostridium perfringens is an anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium responsible for the production of severe histotoxic and gastrointestinal diseases in humans and animals. In silico analysis of the three available genome-sequenced C. perfringens strains (13, SM101, and ATCC13124) revealed that genes that encode flagellar proteins and genes involved in chemotaxis are absent. However...

Apicomplexa exhibit a unique form of substrate-dependent gliding motility central for host cell invasion and parasite dissemination. Gliding is powered by rearward translocation of apically secreted transmembrane adhesins via their interaction with the parasite actomyosin system. We report a conserved armadillo and pleckstrin homology (PH) domain-containing protein, termed glideosome-associated...

It has been known for decades that bacteria locomote over surfaces, but the mechanisms that power motility have been unclear. Recent experiments have begun to explain two modes of surface motility. Twitching or social gliding motility is powered by the retraction of type IV pili. Adventurous gliding motility is powered by the rearward secretion of carbohydrate slime. In both cases, cell movemen...

It has been known for decades that bacteria locomote over surfaces, but the mechanisms that power motility have been unclear. Recent experiments have begun to explain two modes of surface motility. Twitching or social gliding motility is powered by the retraction of type IV pili. Adventurous gliding motility is powered by the rearward secretion of carbohydrate slime. In both cases, cell movemen...

Apicomplexan parasites exhibit a unique form of substrate-dependent motility, gliding motility, which is essential during their invasion of host cells and during their spread between host cells. This process is dependent on actin filaments and myosin that are both located between the plasma membrane and two underlying membranes of the inner membrane complex. We have identified a protein complex...

Colonies of the fish pathogen Flavobacterium psychrophilum have gliding motility in media with low agar concentrations. Although gliding motility, particularly in Flavobacterium johnsoniae, has been well-studied, little is known about its regulation by environmental factors. The work described here shows that the ability of F. psychrophilum to spread over surfaces depends on nutrient availabili...

Many bacterial species use gliding motility in natural habitats because external flagella function poorly on hard surfaces. However, the mechanism(s) of gliding remain elusive because surface motility structures are not apparent. Here, we characterized the dynamics of the Myxococcus xanthus gliding motor protein AglR, a homolog of the Escherichia coli flagella stator protein MotA. We observed t...

Gliding movements of individual isolated Myxococcus xanthus cells depend on the genes of the A-motility system (agl and cgl genes). Mutants carrying defects in those genes are unable to translocate as isolated cells on solid surfaces. The motility defect of cgl mutants can be transiently restored to wild type by extracellular complementation upon mixing mutant cells with wild-type or other moti...

During host infection, single-celled apicomplexan parasites like Plasmodium and Toxoplasma use a unique form of locomotion called gliding that differs fundamentally from the swim-or-crawl paradigm eukaryotic cell motility. Gliding is powered by thin layer actin specialized myosin sandwiched between plasma membrane an inner membranous scaffold. How this actomyosin network organized to generate c...