Miyata Makoto, Petersen Jennifer D
Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan.
J Bacteriol. 2004 Jul;186(13):4382-6. doi: 10.1128/JB.186.13.4382-4386.2004.
Mycoplasma mobile is a flask-shaped bacteria that binds to a substrate and glides towards its tapered end, the so-called "head-like protrusion," by an unknown mechanism. To search for cellular structures underlying this motility, the cell-substrate interface of actively gliding cells was visualized by rapid-freeze-and-freeze-fracture rotary-shadow electron microscopy. Novel structures, called "spikes," were observed to protrude from the cell membrane and attach to the glass surface at their distal end. The spikes were on average 50 nm in length and 4 nm in diameter, most abundant around the head, and not observed in a nonbinding mutant. The spikes may be involved in the mechanism of binding, gliding, or both.
移动支原体是一种烧瓶状细菌,它通过一种未知机制与底物结合,并朝着其锥形末端(即所谓的“头部样突起”)滑行。为了寻找这种运动性背后的细胞结构,通过快速冷冻和冷冻断裂旋转阴影电子显微镜观察了活跃滑行细胞的细胞 - 底物界面。观察到一种称为“刺突”的新结构从细胞膜突出,并在其远端附着于玻璃表面。刺突平均长度为50纳米,直径为4纳米,在头部周围最为丰富,在非结合突变体中未观察到。刺突可能参与了结合、滑行机制或两者兼而有之。