Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 4 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5749, pp. 855 - 857
DOI: 10.1126/science.1119052
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Regulated Pole-to-Pole Oscillations of a Bacterial Gliding Motility Protein

Tâm Mignot, John P. Merlie, Jr., David R. Zusman*

Little is known about directed motility of bacteria that move by type IV pilus–mediated (twitching) motility. Here, we found that during periodic cell reversals of Myxoccocus xanthus, type IV pili were disassembled at one pole and reassembled at the other pole. Accompanying these reversals, FrzS, a protein required for directed motility, moved in an oscillatory pattern between the cell poles. The frequency of the oscillations was controlled by the Frz chemosensory system, which is essential for directed motility. Pole-to-pole migration of FrzS appeared to involve movement along a filament running the length of the cell. FrzS dynamics may thus regulate cell polarity during directed motility.

University of California, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Berkeley, CA 94720–3204, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: zusman{at}uclink.berkeley.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Localization of a bacterial cytoplasmic receptor is dynamic and changes with cell-cell contacts.
E. M. F. Mauriello, D. P. Astling, O. Sliusarenko, and D. R. Zusman (2009)
PNAS 106, 4852-4857
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Predataxis behavior in Myxococcus xanthus.
J. E. Berleman, J. Scott, T. Chumley, and J. R. Kirby (2008)
PNAS 105, 17127-17132
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
PilB and PilT Are ATPases Acting Antagonistically in Type IV Pilus Function in Myxococcus xanthus.
V. Jakovljevic, S. Leonardy, M. Hoppert, and L. Sogaard-Andersen (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 2411-2421
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Bacterial Signaling and Motility: Sure Bets.
R. Belas, I. B. Zhulin, and Z. Yang (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 1849-1856
   Full Text »    PDF »
Bioinformatics and Experimental Analysis of Proteins of Two-Component Systems in Myxococcus xanthus.
X. Shi, S. Wegener-Feldbrugge, S. Huntley, N. Hamann, R. Hedderich, and L. Sogaard-Andersen (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 613-624
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Triple Mutants Uncover Three New Genes Required for Social Motility in Myxococcus xanthus.
P. Youderian and P. L. Hartzell (2007)
Genetics 177, 557-566
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence That Focal Adhesion Complexes Power Bacterial Gliding Motility.
T. Mignot, J. W. Shaevitz, P. L. Hartzell, and D. R. Zusman (2007)
Science 315, 853-856
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Rippling Is a Predatory Behavior in Myxococcus xanthus..
J. E. Berleman, T. Chumley, P. Cheung, and J. R. Kirby (2006)
J. Bacteriol. 188, 5888-5895
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Accordion waves in Myxococcus xanthus.
O. Sliusarenko, J. Neu, D. R. Zusman, and G. Oster (2006)
PNAS 103, 1534-1539
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)