Cell Shape and Population Migration Are Distinct Steps of Proteus mirabilis Swarming That Are Decoupled on High-Percentage Agar.

ABSTRACT: Swarming on rigid surfaces requires movement of cells as individuals and as a group of cells. For the bacterium Proteus mirabilis, an individual cell can respond to a rigid surface by elongating and migrating over micrometer-scale distances. Cells can form groups of transiently aligned cells, and the collective population is capable of migrating over centimeter-scale distances. To address how P. mirabilis populations swarm on rigid surfaces, we asked whether cell elongation and single-cell motility are coupled to population migration. We first measured the relationship between agar concentration (a proxy for surface rigidity), single-cell phenotypes, and swarm colony phenotypes. We find that cell elongation and single-cell motility are coupled with population migration on low

SUBMITTER: Little K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6509654 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature