Swarming motility by Photorhabdus temperata is influenced by environmental conditions and uses the same flagella as that used in swimming motility
Abstract
Photorhabdus temperata, an insect pathogen and nematode symbiont, is motile in liquid medium by swimming. We found that P. temperata was capable of surface movement, termed swarming behavior. Several lines of evidence indicate that P. temperata use the same flagella for both swimming and swarming motility. Both motility types required additional NaCl or KCl in the medium and had peritrichous flagella, which were composed of the same flagellin as detected by immunoblotting experiments. Mutants defective in flagellar structural proteins were nonmotile for both motility types. Unlike swimming, we observed swarming behavior to be a social form of movement in which the cells coordinately formed intricate channels covering a surface. The constituents of the swarm media affected motility. Swarming was optimal on low agar concentrations; as agar concentrations increased, swarm ring diameters decreased.
Publication Date
3-1-2011
Journal Title
Canadian journal of microbiology
Publisher
NRC Research Press
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1139/W10-119
Scientific Contribution Number
2431
Document Type
Article
Rights
Copyright © 2011, NRC Research Press or its licensors
Recommended Citation
Michaels, Brandye and Tisa, Louis S., "Swarming motility by Photorhabdus temperata is influenced by environmental conditions and uses the same flagella as that used in swimming motility" (2011). Canadian journal of microbiology. 24.
https://scholars.unh.edu/nhaes/24