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Science 4 October 1985:
Vol. 230. no. 4721, pp. 74 - 76
DOI: 10.1126/science.230.4721.74
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Articles

A Cyanobacterium Capable of Swimming Motility

JoHN B. WATERBURY 1, JOANNE M. WILLEY 1, DIANA G. FRANKS 1, FREDERICA W. VALOIS 1, and STANLEY W. WATSON 1

1 Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

A novel cyanobacterium capable of swimming motility was isolated in pure culture from several locations in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a small unicellular form, assignable to the genus Synechococcus, that is capable of swimming through liquids at speeds of 25 micrometers per second. Light microscopy revealed that the motile cells display many features characteristic of bacterial flagellar motility. However, electron microscopy failed to reveal flagella and shearing did not arrest motility, indicating that the cyanobacterium may be propelled by a novel mechanism.

Submitted on June 3, 1985
Accepted on August 7, 1985


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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The role of an alternative sigma factor in motility and pilus formation in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803.
D. Bhaya, N. Watanabe, T. Ogawa, and A. R. Grossman (1999)
PNAS 96, 3188-3193
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Fibrillar Array in the Cell Wall of a Gliding Filamentous Cyanobacterium.
D. G. Adams, D. Ashworth, and B. Nelmes (1999)
J. Bacteriol. 181, 884-892
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