Myxobacteria are renowned for the ability to sporulate within fruiting bodies whose shapes are species-specific. The capacity to build those multicellular structures arises from the ability of M. xanthus to organize high cell-density swarms, in which the cells tend to be aligned with each other while constantly in motion. The intrinsic polarity of rod-shaped cells lays the foundation, and each ...

In this paper we develop a continuum theory of clustering in ensembles of self-propelled inelastically colliding rods with applications to collective dynamics of common gliding bacteria Myxococcus xanthus. A multiphase hydrodynamic model that couples densities of oriented and isotropic phases is described. This model is used for the analysis of an instability that leads to spontaneous formation...

Tubulysins, linear tetrapeptides produced by several strains of myxobacteria, show an extremely high toxicity towards a wide range of cancer cell lines, with IC50 values in the nano or even picomolar range. Therefore, tubulysins and their derivatives might be suitable candidates for the development of antitumor drugs. Several synthetic approaches for tubulysins and derivates have been developed...

FrzS protein is important for normal social motility in myxobacteria, which includes periodic reversals in the direction of cell motion. Recent results show that cell reversal correlates with the migration of FrzS from the old leading pole of the cell to the new leading pole.

A new kinetic model for the dynamics of myxobacteria colonies on flat surfaces is derived formally, and first analytical numerical results are presented. The based assumption hard binary collisions two different types: alignment reversal. We investigate versions: a) realistic rod-shaped bacteria b) artificial circular shaped called Maxwellian myxos in ...

We study mechanisms for wavenumber selection in a minimal model for run-and-tumble dynamics. We show that nonlinearity in tumbling rates induces the existence of a plethora of traveling- and standing-wave patterns, as well as a subtle selection mechanism for the wavenumbers of spatio-temporally periodic waves. We comment on possible implications for rippling patterns observed in colonies of myx...

R OLAND THAXTER published a bombshell in December, 1892. He reported that Chondromyces crocatus, before then considered an imperfect fungus because of its complex fruiting bodv, was actually a bacterium (Figure 1). THAXTER had discovered the unicellular vegetative stage of C. crocatus; the cells he found were relatively short and they divided by binary fission. C. crocatus was, he concluded...