The myxobacteria: common organisms with uncommon behaviour.

The gliding myxobacteria, common and easily obtainable soil organisms, exhibit a fascinating social organization which culminates in the formation of fruiting bodies by an ordered cooperation of hundreds of thousands of cells. Inside the fruiting body, the vegetative cells transform themselves into dormant myxospores. The myxobacteria have become potent model systems for studying morphogenetical problems at the prokaryotic organizational level, particularly since the methods of modern genetics now may be readily applied to them.