Detailed Analyses of Stall Force Generation in Mycoplasma mobile Gliding.

ABSTRACT: Mycoplasma mobile is a bacterium that uses a unique mechanism to glide on solid surfaces at a velocity of up to 4.5 μm/s. Its gliding machinery comprises hundreds of units that generate the force for gliding based on the energy derived from ATP; the units catch and pull sialylated oligosaccharides fixed to solid surfaces. In this study, we measured the stall force of wild-type and mutant strains of M. mobile carrying a bead manipulated using optical tweezers. The strains that had been enhanced for binding exhibited weaker stall forces than the wild-type strain, indicating that stall force is related to force generation rather than to binding. The stall force of the wild-type strain decreased linearly from 113 to 19 picoNewtons after the addition of 0-0.5 mM free sialyllactose (a sialylated

SUBMITTER: Mizutani M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5883615 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature