Long-Term Preservation of Spirillum volutans

Straight mutants of Spirillum volutans can swim.

Nonhelical mutant cells of Spirillum volutans ATCC 19554 can swim as fast as the helical cells. Consequently, a helical cell shape is not required for motility of this species, and the function of the polar flagellar fascicles is not merely to cause rotation, and therefore translocation, of the corkscrew-shaped cell.

Inhibitio of flagellar coordination in Spirillum volutans.

The motility of Spirillum volutans is caused by the rotation of each polar flagellar fascicle in a direction opposite to that of the more slowly rotating cell. Both flagella form cones of revolution oriented in the same direction. When the cell reverses its motion, both fascicles simultaneously reverse their rotation and also the orientation of their cones of revolution, with the tail fascicle ...

Cultivation of Spirillum volutans in a Bacteria-Free Environment.

Despite the early description of Spirillum volutans Ehrenberg in 1832, attempts by various investigators to grow this organism in pure culture have been unsuccessful (Williams and Rittenberg, Intern. Bull. Bacteriol. Nomencl. Taxonom. 7:49, 1957); however, by a most ingenious dialysis sac technique, Rittenberg and Rittenberg (Arch. Mikrobiol. 42:138, 1962) were able to isolate the Pringsheim st...

Mode of extension of cell surface during growth of Spirillum volutans.

The Swimming of Unipolar Cells of Spirillum Volutans: Theory and Observations

Bright-field high-speed cinemicrography was employed to record the swimming of six unipolar cells of Spirillum volutans. A complete set of geometrical parameters for each of these six cells, which are of typical but varying dimensions, was measured experimentally. For each cell, the mean swimming linear and angular speeds were measured for a period representing an exact number of flagellar cycl...