The sporozoites of Eimeria tenella and Eimeria acervulina show bending, pivoting and gliding motility. All these types of motility occur intermittently and with decreasing frequency during the life of a sporozoite. Gliding is the only locomotive action expressed by these sporozoites and is only seen when the sporozoites are in contact with the substratum. All gliding sporozoites adopt a set pat...

The gliding movements of freshly isolated Mycoplasma pulmonis cells were observed and measured. The motile cells had a characteristic appearance, an average speed of 0.4 to 0.7 micron/s, and a maximum speed of 1 micron/s.

The lack of cell translocation and the resulting formation of nonspreading colonies of mutants of the gram-negative gliding bacterium Cytophagajohnsonae have been correlated with the loss of cell surface features of the organism. These cell surface traits include the ability to move polystyrene-latex beads over the cell surface and the ability to be infected by bacteriophages that infect the pa...

A flower-shaped micromotor driven by gliding bacteria named Mycoplasma mobile (M. mobile) has been developed by using two-photon microfabrication. This micromotor is autonomously rotated by the collisions of M. mobiles gliding randomly on a substrate. The flower-shaped rotor is derived from the unique motility of M. mobile. We examined the motility characteristics of M. mobile using walls with ...

The cell wall-less prokaryote Mycoplasma pneumoniae causes bronchitis and atypical pneumonia in humans. Mycoplasma attachment and gliding motility are required for colonization of the respiratory epithelium and are mediated largely by a differentiated terminal organelle. P30 is a membrane protein at the distal end of the terminal organelle and is required for cytadherence and gliding motility, ...

Background: Micronemal proteins of the thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) family are believed to play essential roles during gliding motility and host cell invasion by apicomplexan parasites, and currently represent major vaccine candidates against Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria. However, recent evidence suggests that they play multiple and different roles th...

Mycoplasma mobile glides on surfaces at up to 7 microm/s by an unknown mechanism. We studied the energetics that power gliding by using a novel, growth medium-free system. We found that cells could glide in defined media if the glass substrate is preconditioned by exposure to horse serum. The active component that potentiates gliding is sensitive to proteinase K treatment. We used the defined m...