J. Bacteriol., 08 1996, 5024-5026, Vol 178, No. 16
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology

Effect of viscosity on swimming by the lateral and polar flagella of Vibrio alginolyticus

T Atsumi, Y Maekawa, T Yamada, I Kawagishi, Y Imae and M Homma
Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, Nagoya University, Japan.

By using mutants of Vibrio alginolyticus with only a polar flagellum (Pof+ Laf-) or only lateral flagella (Pof- Laf+), we examined the relationship between swimming speed and the viscosity of the medium for each flagellar system. Pof+ Laf- cells could not swim in the high- viscosity environment (ca. 200 cP) in which Pof- Laf+ cells swam at 20 microns/s. The Pof- Laf+ cells swam at about 20 microns/s at normal viscosity (1 cP) without the viscous agent, and the speed increased to 40 microns/s at about 5 cP and then decreased gradually as the viscosity was increased further. These results show the functional difference between polar and lateral flagella in viscous environments.

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