The genotypic diversity of insoluble macromolecules degraded myxobacteria, provided an opportunity to discover new bacterial resources and find new ecological functions. In this study, we developed a semi-nested-PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) strategy to determine the presence and genotypic diversity of myxobacteria in soil. After two rounds of PCR with myxobacteria-specific...

Myxobacteria, phylogenetically located in the delta division of the Proteobacteria, are well known for characterized social behaviors and large genomes of more than 9 Mb in size. Myxococcus fulvus is a typical species of the genus Myxococcus in the family Myxococcaceae. M. fulvus 124B02, originally isolated from a soil sample collected in Northeast China, is the one and only presently known myx...

Myxobacteria are gram-negative, unicellular bacteria with rod-shaped vegetative cells. They are unique among prokaryotes for using intercellular communication to engage in cooperative morphogenesis from which they produce fruiting bodies bearing resistant myxospores (5). Thick-walled myxospores are responsible for the survival of myxobacteria under unfavorable conditions such as desiccation, hi...

Electron microscopy of ultrathin sections enabled the fine structural peculiarities of a myxobacterium (Sorangium sp.) to be studied. The myxobacteria did not show the dense membrane characteristic of eubacterial cells. A very thin membrane in the myxobacteria cells was not distinguishable from the cytoplasm. In ultrathin sections of the myxobacteria there was observed a broad dark coloured cyt...

Tubulysins are a group of secondary metabolites produced by myxobacteria that inhibit the function eukayotic cytoskeleton. We developed pair PCR primers specifically amplified tubulysin biosynthetic genes. Using these primers, eight out eighty-one strains belonging to Cystobacteraceae family harbored putative genes were screened through analysis. The selected included two Archangium gephyra, St...

T he myxobacteria are social and capable of constructing intricate macroscopic structures called fruiting bodies. First recognized as bacteria in 1892 by the cryptogamic botanist Roland Thaxter, these exotic anomalies have proved challenging to microbiologists. Even so, we now know a great deal about the nutrition, life cycle, growth physiology, intermediary metabolism, structural chemistry, ge...

This study reports the isolation of myxobacteria from soil collected from plains in north India. Based on the morphology and 16S rDNA sequence, the isolated myxobacteria were identified as Corallococcus sp., Pyxidicoccus sp., Myxococcus sp., Cystobacter sp. and Archangium sp. The myxobacteria were functionally characterized to assess their ability to produce antibacterial and anticancer metabol...

Myxobacteria are famous for their ability to produce most intriguing secondary metabolites. Till recently, only terrestrial myxobacteria were in the focus of research. In this review, however, we discuss marine-derived myxobacteria, which are particularly interesting due to their relatively recent discovery and due to the fact that their very existence was called into question. The to-date-expl...

This paper reviews recent progress in modeling collective behaviors in myxobacteria using lattice gas cellular automata approach (LGCA). Myxobacteria are social bacteria that swarm, glide on surfaces and feed cooperatively. When starved, tens of thousands of cells change their movement pattern from outward spreading to inward concentration; they form aggregates that become fruiting bodies. Cell...

Cell contact, movement and directionality are important factors in biological development (morphogenesis), and myxobacteria are a model system for studying cell-cell interaction and cell organization preceding differentiation. When starved, thousands of myxobacteria cells align, stream and form aggregates which later develop into round, non-motile spores. Canonically, cell aggregation has been ...