Myxococcus xanthus DK 1622

Myxococcus xanthus is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium. Under starvation conditions, it undergoes a developmental process in which roughly 100,000 individual cells aggregate to form a structure called the fruiting body. Inside this structure, rod-shaped cells differentiate into spherical, thick-walled spores. Biochemical changes, such as the synthesis of new proteins and alterations in the cell wall, occur in parallel to the morphological changes. During the aggregation of M.xanthus cells into fruiting bodies, dense ridges of cells appear to move in traveling waves called ripples. Coordinated cell motility, or swarming, also occurs during vegetative growth, facilitating predatory feeding by increasing the extracellular concentration of digestive enzymes secreted by the bacteria. M.xanthus moves across surfaces by means of a poorly understood mechanism known as gliding motility. (EBI Integr8)