Cellular coordination underpins rapid reversals in gliding filamentous cyanobacteria and its loss results in plectonemes.

ABSTRACT: Cyanobacteria are key contributors to biogeochemical cycles through photosynthesis and carbon fixation. In filamentous, multicellular cyanobacteria, these functions can be influenced through gliding motility, which enables filaments to localise in response to light and also form aggregates. Here, we use the aggregate-forming species Fluctiforma draycotensis to study gliding motility dynamics in detail. We find that filaments move in curved and straight trajectories interspersed with reorientation or reversal of direction. Most reversals take a few seconds, but some take substantially longer, resulting in a long-tailed distribution of stoppage times. Mean filament speeds range around a micron per second with a relatively uniform distribution against filament length, implying that all

SUBMITTER: Rosko J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12286601 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature