Spormann A M, Kaiser A D
Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, California 94305-5307, USA.
J Bacteriol. 1995 Oct;177(20):5846-52. doi: 10.1128/jb.177.20.5846-5852.1995.
Prokaryotic gliding motility is described as the movement of a cell on a solid surface in the direction of the cell's long axis, but its mechanics are unknown. To investigate the basis of gliding, movements of individual Myxococcus xanthus cells were monitored by employing a video microscopy method by which displacements as small as 0.03 micron could be detected and speeds as low as 1 micron/min could be resolved. Single cells were observed to glide with speeds varying between 1 and 20 microns/min. We found that speed variation was due to differences in distance between the moving cell and the nearest cell. Cells separated by less than one cell diameter (0.5 micron) moved with an average speed of 5.0 micron/min, whereas cells separated by more than 0.5 micron glided with an average speed of 3.8 microns/min. The power to glide was found to be carried separately at both ends of a cell.
原核生物的滑行运动被描述为细胞在固体表面沿细胞长轴方向的移动，但其机制尚不清楚。为了研究滑行的基础，通过采用一种视频显微镜方法监测了单个黄色黏球菌细胞的运动，利用该方法可以检测到小至0.03微米的位移，并能分辨低至1微米/分钟的速度。观察到单个细胞以1至20微米/分钟的速度滑行。我们发现速度变化是由于移动细胞与最近细胞之间距离的差异所致。相隔小于一个细胞直径（0.5微米）的细胞平均以5.0微米/分钟的速度移动，而相隔大于0.5微米的细胞平均以3.8微米/分钟的速度滑行。发现滑行的动力分别由细胞的两端携带。
