Milestones in the development of as a model multicellular bacterium.

From the humblest of beginnings (i.e. a pile of dry cow dung) over 80 years ago, the Gram-negative bacterium has emerged as a premier model system for studying diverse fields of bacteriology, including multicellular development, sporulation, motility, cell-envelope biogenesis, spatiotemporal regulation, signaling, photoreception, kin recognition, social evolution, and predation. As the flagship representative of myxobacteria found in varied terrestrial and aquatic environments, research has evolved into a collaborative global effort, as reflected by the contributions to this article. In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the International Conference on the Biology of Myxobacteria, this review highlights the historical and ongoing contributions of as a multifaceted model bacterium.