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Article: Microbes fire an oozie: slime engines may push bacteria along.(bacterial motion)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- March 23, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Threads of goop oozing from tiny nozzles in the cell walls of some bacteria exert sufficient force to nudge the creatures along, anew study finds. This result may solve a decades-old puzzle about bacterial motion.
Many bacteria get around by gliding on a film of slime. Microbiologists had long observed that those microbes, when traveling in groups, shoot out filaments, or pill, that anchor to the creatures' surroundings. The bacteria then jerk themselves along by these cords. However, when the same bacteria wander on their own, they cruise smoothly with no evidence of pill or any other mechanism for movement. "People have been looking to understand this for 30 to ...