Biofilm formation dominated by sophisticated social behaviors in Myxococcus xanthus.

Author: Chuandong WANG ¹ ; Yan WANG ¹ ; Yue ZHENG ¹ ; Kunmei ZHANG ¹ ; Wei HU ¹ ; Wenyuan SHI ² ; Yuezhong LI ¹
Author Information

1. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, Shandong, China.
2. School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Myxococcus xanthus; biofilm; cellular behavior; sociality
From: Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2017;33(9):1582-1595
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Myxococcus xanthus is a Gram-negative soil bacterium capable of performing sophisticated cellular behaviors and growing one of the most intricate bacterial single-species biofilms in nature. During the process of biofilm formation, social behaviors of M. xanthus cells dominate key steps of the biofilm establishment, e.g., cellular motility on solid surface, predatory behavior by the grouped cells, kin recognition in the community, fruiting body development, myxospore differentiation, and programmed cell death. This review introduces the recent research progress about the M. xanthus biofilms.