Projects -Fluorescent flagella -Swimming without flagella -Gliding motility -Twitching motility -Fluorescent chemotaxis proteins -Chemotactic signaling studied by FRET -Motor force generation -Switching under load

Two Mycoplasma bacteria. Gliding motility Makoto Miyata, a Professor of Biology from Osaka City University, recently spent a one-year sabbatical in our lab. He is interested in the gliding motility of Mycoplasma. These are bacteria (about 0.3 µm in diameter) that do not have outer walls, only cytoplasmic membranes. However, they do have cytoskeletal elements that give them a distinct non-spherical shape. They look like schmoos that are pulled along by their heads. How they are able to glide is a mystery. See Movies, Gliding Mycoplasma. Reference Miyata, M., Ryu, W.S., and Berg, H.C. "Force and velocity of Mycoplasma mobile gliding." J. Bacteriol. 184, 1827-1831 (2002).

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Last modified Tuesday, July 23, 2003.