Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, 16 Barker Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA.
Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2010 Jun;74(2):229-49. doi: 10.1128/MMBR.00043-09.
In bacteria, motility is important for a wide variety of biological functions such as virulence, fruiting body formation, and biofilm formation. While most bacteria move by using specialized appendages, usually external or periplasmic flagella, some bacteria use other mechanisms for their movements that are less well characterized. These mechanisms do not always exhibit obvious motility structures. Myxococcus xanthus is a motile bacterium that does not produce flagella but glides slowly over solid surfaces. How M. xanthus moves has remained a puzzle that has challenged microbiologists for over 50 years. Fortunately, recent advances in the analysis of motility mutants, bioinformatics, and protein localization have revealed likely mechanisms for the two M. xanthus motility systems. These results are summarized in this review.
在细菌中，运动能力对于多种生物学功能非常重要，如毒力、生殖体形成和生物膜形成。虽然大多数细菌通过使用专门的附属物（通常是外部或周质鞭毛）进行运动，但有些细菌使用其他机制进行运动，这些机制的特征不太明显。这些机制并不总是表现出明显的运动结构。粘细菌是一种不产生鞭毛但能在固体表面缓慢滑行的运动细菌。粘细菌如何运动一直是一个谜，困扰了微生物学家 50 多年。幸运的是，近年来对运动突变体的分析、生物信息学和蛋白质定位的研究进展揭示了粘细菌的两种运动系统的可能机制。本综述总结了这些结果。
