2014/04/09 by Dale Kaiser, Martin Dworkin · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Bacteria #Biochemistry #Biology #Botany #Cell biology #Cell wall #Gene #Genetics #Germination #Glycerol #Marine Toxins and Detection Methods #Mutant #Myxobacteria #Myxococcus xanthus #Myxozoan Parasites in Aquatic Species #Organism #Peptidoglycan #Protist diversity and phylogeny #Spore
paper · doi:10.1128/9781555815677.ch1
openalex publication_date 2014/04/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Seeking a convenient method of collecting myxospores than harvesting fruiting bodies, Dorothy Powelson's group had explored techniques for converting vegetative cells into myxospores in liquid culture. A more detailed description of the process followed, which demonstrated that glycerol-induced myxospores were able to germinate, were resistant to elevated temperature, UV irradiation, and sonication, and mimicked the sequence of morphological stages during the formation of fruiting body myxospores. While David Zusman pointed out some important differences between glycerol-induced and fruiting body myxospores, glycerol induction quickly became a favorite vehicle for comparing the properties and processes of vegetative cells and myxospores, albeit with careful qualifications. It was suggested that the patchy quality of the peptidoglycan and the changes during glycerol induction were causally related to the shape change during myxospore formation. Despite structural differences between fruiting body and glycerol-induced myxospores, the Tn5lac insertion mutation, Ω7536, simultaneously blocked the development of glycerol-induced spores as well as fruiting body spores as they changed their shape from rod to sphere. By 1976 it had already become clear that a defining feature of myxobacterial behavior was the pervasive tendency of cells to maintain a high cell density. When the animal encounters nutrients and feeds, the package of myxospores may be deposited in the organic matter. The spores would germinate together and instantly create a feeding swarm of myxobacteria. Those experiments would constitute no more than one step in the overall task of understanding the whole organism that is revealed in the M. xanthus genome.