A Note on Elasticotaxis in Myxobacteria

Abstract

When myxobacteria of the family Myxococcaceae are grown on agar slants, the fruiting bodies are often produced in roughly parallel rows or ridges at right angles to the streak, instead of in the customary random manner. Using Chondrococcus exiguus as a test organism, expts. were performed to ascertain the cause of this abnormality.[long dash]The orientation of the fruiting bodies is a secondary phenomenon, resulting from previous orientation of the vegetative cells in the swarm. Direction of swarm movement and orientation of the constituent cells are controlled by stresses in the agar substrate. This phenomenon, for which the name elasticotaxis is suggested, is discussed with particular reference to the hypothesis of Weiss.