ArticleJournal of bacteriology2007
Nanoscale visualization of a fibrillar array in the cell wall of filamentous cyanobacteria and its implications for gliding motility.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chiral gliding: Right-handed navigation of filamentous cyanobacteria.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Form and function in biological filaments: a physicist's review.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2025Review
- Beyond movement: the dynamic roles of Type IV pili in cyanobacterial life.Journal of bacteriology · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- Structural mechanics of filamentous cyanobacteria.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Article
- A Non-Destructive, Tuneable Method to Isolate Live Cells for High-Speed AFM Analysis.Microorganisms · 2021Article
- Light-controlled motility in prokaryotes and the problem of directional light perception.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2017Review
- Appendages of the cyanobacterial cell.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2015Review
- Article
- Genomic structure of an economically important cyanobacterium, Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis NIES-39.DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes · 2010Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many filamentous cyanobacteria are motile by gliding, which requires attachment to a surface. There are two main theories to explain the mechanism of gliding. According to the first, the filament is pushed forward by small waves that pass along the cell surface. In the second, gliding is powered by the extrusion of slime through pores surrounding each cell septum. We have previously shown that the cell walls of several motile cyanobacteria possess an array of parallel fibrils between the peptidoglycan and the outer membrane and have speculated that the function of this array may be to generate surface waves to power gliding. Here, we report on a study of the cell surface topography of two morphologically different filamentous cyanobacteria, using field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEGSEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). FEGSEM and AFM images of Oscillatoria sp. strain A2 confirmed the presence of an array of fibrils, visible as parallel corrugations on the cell surface. These corrugations were also visualized by AFM scanning of fully hydrated filaments under liquid; this has not been achieved before for filamentous bacteria. FEGSEM images of Nostoc punctiforme revealed a highly convoluted, not parallel, fibrillar array. We conclude that an array of parallel fibrils, beneath the outer membrane of Oscillatoria, may function in the generation of thrust in gliding motility. The array of convoluted fibrils in N. punctiforme may have an alternative function, perhaps connected with the increase in outer membrane surface area resulting from the presence of the fibrils.
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