Bacterial bean-shooters

摘要

Bacteria often carpet surfaces by clustering in dense communities called biofilms, such as those found in dental plaques and water pipes. To do so, they use appendages called pili that enable them to crawl. Yet it remains unclear how bacteria change directions and execute turns while exploring surfaces. Fan Jin et al. (pp. 12617-12622) used microscopy and a tracking algorithm to deconstruct the directional crawling motion of the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which uses append- ages dubbed type-lv pui as mechanical devices for controlling movement. Biofilms of P. aeruginosa are often found in people with cystic fibrosis, causing persistent lung infections.