This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pitta, T. P. Articles by Berg, H. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Pitta, T. P. Articles by Berg, H. C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J. Bacteriol., Oct 1995, 5701-5703, Vol 177, No. 19
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology

Self-electrophoresis is not the mechanism for motility in swimming cyanobacteria

TP Pitta and HC Berg
Rowland Institute for Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.

Swimming cyanobacteria do not have flagella. In principle, they could be propelled by streams of ions flowing from head to tail, i.e., by a self-electrophoretic mechanism. We have ruled out this possibility by showing that cells of a swimming Synechococcus species fail to drift in an external electric field.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• McCarren, J., Brahamsha, B. (2007). SwmB, a 1.12-Megadalton Protein That Is Required for Nonflagellar Swimming Motility in Synechococcus. J. Bacteriol. 189: 1158-1162 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• McCarren, J., Brahamsha, B. (2005). Transposon Mutagenesis in a Marine Synechococcus Strain: Isolation of Swimming Motility Mutants. J. Bacteriol. 187: 4457-4462 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Spormann, A. M. (1999). Gliding Motility in Bacteria: Insights from Studies of Myxococcus xanthus. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 63: 621-641 [Abstract] [Full Text]