Bacteria of the species Bacillus subtilis were inoculated at the center of a dish with gelose containing nutrients. The bacteria start mass-migrating outwards about twelve hours after inoculation, forming dendrites which reach the border of the dish (diameter 90mm) within a few hours. Two days after inoculation the number of bacteria has increased so much that they diffuse light significantly and appear white. This picture was taken against a lightsource to make the dendrites (white branched structures) clearly stand out.
Swarming motility is a rapid (2–10 μm/s) and coordinated translocation of a bacterial population across solid or semi-solid surfaces,[1] and is an example of bacterial multicellularity and swarm behaviour. Swarming motility was first reported by Jorgen Henrichsen[2] and has been mostly studied in genus Serratia,[3][4]Salmonella,[5]Aeromonas,[6]Bacillus,[7]Yersinia,[8]Pseudomonas,[9][10][11][12][13]Proteus,[14]Vibrio[15][16] and Escherichia.[17][18]
This multicellular behavior has been mostly observed in controlled laboratory conditions and relies on two critical elements: 1) the nutrient composition and 2) viscosity of culture medium (i.e. % agar).[5] One particular feature of this type of motility is the formation of dendritic fractal-like patterns formed by migrating swarms moving away from an initial location. Although the majority of species can produce tendrils when swarming, some species like Proteus mirabilis do form concentric circles motif instead of dendritic patterns.[19]
^Harshey, Rasika M. (2003-01-01). "Bacterial Motility on a Surface: Many Ways to a Common Goal". Annual Review of Microbiology. 57 (1): 249–73. doi:10.1146/annurev.micro.57.030502.091014. PMID 14527279.
^Henrichsen, J (1972). "Bacterial surface translocation: a survey and a classification". Bacteriological Reviews. 36 (4): 478–503. doi:10.1128/MMBR.36.4.478-503.1972. PMC 408329. PMID 4631369.
^Alberti, L; Harshey, RM (1990). "Differentiation of Serratia marcescens 274 into swimmer and swarmer cells". Journal of Bacteriology. 172 (8): 4322–28. doi:10.1128/jb.172.8.4322-4328.1990. PMC 213257. PMID 2198253.
^Eberl, L; Molin, S; Givskov, M (1999). "Surface Motility of Serratia liquefaciens MG1". Journal of Bacteriology. 181 (6): 1703–12. doi:10.1128/JB.181.6.1703-1712.1999. PMC 93566. PMID 10074060.
^ abHarshey, Rasika M. (1994). "Bees aren't the only ones: swarming in Gram-negative bacteria". Molecular Microbiology. 13 (3): 389–94. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.1994.tb00433.x. PMID 7997156. S2CID 21068729.
^Kearns, Daniel B.; Losick, Richard (2004). "Swarming motility in undomesticated Bacillus subtilis". Molecular Microbiology. 49 (3): 581–90. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03584.x. PMID 12864845.
^Young, GM; Smith, MJ; Minnich, SA; Miller, VL (1999). "The Yersinia enterocolitica Motility Master Regulatory Operon, flhDC, Is Required for Flagellin Production, Swimming Motility, and Swarming Motility". Journal of Bacteriology. 181 (9): 2823–33. doi:10.1128/JB.181.9.2823-2833.1999. PMC 93725. PMID 10217774.
^Déziel, E; Lépine, F; Milot, S; Villemur, R (2003). "rhlA is required for the production of a novel biosurfactant promoting swarming motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: 3-(3-hydroxyalkanoyloxy)alkanoic acids (HAAs), the precursors of rhamnolipids" (PDF). Microbiology. 149 (Pt 8): 2005–13. doi:10.1099/mic.0.26154-0. PMID 12904540.
^Köhler, T; Curty, LK; Barja, F; Van Delden, C; Pechère, JC (2000). "Swarming of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Is Dependent on Cell-to-Cell Signaling and Requires Flagella and Pili". Journal of Bacteriology. 182 (21): 5990–96. doi:10.1128/JB.182.21.5990-5996.2000. PMC 94731. PMID 11029417.
^Rashid, MH; Kornberg, A (2000). "Inorganic polyphosphate is needed for swimming, swarming, and twitching motilities of Pseudomonas aeruginosa". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 97 (9): 4885–90. Bibcode:2000PNAS...97.4885H. doi:10.1073/pnas.060030097. PMC 18327. PMID 10758151.
^Caiazza, N.C.; Shanks, R.M.Q.; O'Toole, G.A. (2005). "Rhamnolipids Modulate Swarming Motility Patterns of Pseudomonas aeruginosa". Journal of Bacteriology. 187 (21): 7351–61. doi:10.1128/JB.187.21.7351-7361.2005. PMC 1273001. PMID 16237018.
^Rather, Philip N. (2005). "Swarmer cell differentiation in Proteus mirabilis". Environmental Microbiology. 7 (8): 1065–73. Bibcode:2005EnvMi...7.1065R. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00806.x. PMID 16011745.
^McCarter, L.; Silverman, M. (1990). "Surface-induced swarmer cell differentiation of Vibrio parahaemoiyticus". Molecular Microbiology. 4 (7): 1057–62. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.1990.tb00678.x. PMID 2233248.
^McCarter, Linda L. (2004). "Dual Flagellar Systems Enable Motility under Different Circumstances". Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. 7 (1–2): 18–29. doi:10.1159/000077866. PMID 15170400. S2CID 21963003.
^Harshey, RM; Matsuyama, T (1994). "Dimorphic transition in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium: surface-induced differentiation into hyperflagellate swarmer cells". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 91 (18): 8631–35. Bibcode:1994PNAS...91.8631H. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.18.8631. PMC 44660. PMID 8078935.
^Burkart, M; Toguchi, A; Harshey, RM (1998). "The chemotaxis system, but not chemotaxis, is essential for swarming motility in Escherichia coli". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 95 (5): 2568–73. Bibcode:1998PNAS...95.2568B. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.5.2568. PMC 19416. PMID 9482927.
^Matsuyama, Tohey; Takagi, Yuko; Nakagawa, Yoji; Itoh, Hiroto; Wakita, Junichi; Matsushita, Mitsugu (2000-01-15). "Dynamic Aspects of the Structured Cell Population in a Swarming Colony of Proteus mirabilis". Journal of Bacteriology. 182 (2): 385–393. doi:10.1128/JB.182.2.385-393.2000. ISSN 0021-9193. PMC 94287. PMID 10629184.
when swarming, some species like Proteus mirabilis do form concentric circles motif instead of dendritic patterns. In some species, swarmingmotility requires...
Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium. It shows swarmingmotility and urease activity. P. mirabilis causes 90% of all Proteus infections...
Motility is the ability of an organism to move independently, using metabolic energy. Motility, the ability of an organism to move independently, using...
Bacterial motility is the ability of bacteria to move independently using metabolic energy. Most motility mechanisms that evolved among bacteria also...
between the role of HAAs and RHLs in swarmingmotility. Some studies use a rhlA mutation to assess the effect on motility, which prevents the formation of...
surfaces, and is an example of bacterial multicellularity and swarm behaviour. Swarmingmotility was first reported in 1972 by Jorgen Henrichsen. Non-motile...
provide motility in bulk fluid, while the lateral flagella are expressed when the polar flagella meet too much resistance to turn. These provide swarming motility...
surface of low aqueous films. The mechanisms of this motility are only partially known. Twitching motility also allows microorganisms to travel along a surface...
aeruginosa uses quorum sensing to coordinate the formation of biofilm, swarmingmotility, exopolysaccharide production, virulence, and cell aggregation. These...
surface of the media. More information on swarmingmotility can be found here. Mechanisms that drive gliding motility are still unknown. However, despite lacking...
(crucial for quorum sensing), as well as repressing swimming and swarmingmotility (essential for attachment and development of S. marcescens biofilms)...
cells may also exhibit rapid transitions between amoeboid motility and mesenchymal motility, another form of cellular movement. Dictyostelium cells and...
resulting in the surface translocation event identified as “swarming”. Swarmingmotility makes it difficult to isolate single colonies for further study...
Twitching motility is a form of crawling bacterial motility used to move over surfaces. Twitching is mediated by the activity of hair-like filaments called...
two-component system (an important regulator of nitrogen assimilation and swarmingmotility) together with the alternative sigma factor RpoN ( a global regulator...
Meropenem Piperacillin/tazobactam Ampicillin/sulbactam Proteus OX19 Swarmingmotility "API Test Strips". Archived from the original on 7 November 2008....
cells taper slightly. The colonies are usually pale brown and show swarmingmotility. It produces orange, roughly spherical fruiting bodies. A draft sequence...
genus lack flagella but exhibit twitching or swarmingmotility, likely mediated by type IV pili. Motility in A. baumannii may also be due to the excretion...
found in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. In summer, they graze on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin also eat krill...
called swarmingmotility. Bacteria swarming refers to a rapid cellular bacterial surface movement powered by rotating flagella. Key features of swarming bacteria...
produce acid from trehalose. Most strains of P. hauseri demonstrate swarmingmotility, often covering the entire plate on which it is are inoculated onto...
orange-red pigment called prodigiosin.: 26 : 236 Organisms with swarmingmotility, like Proteus species, exhibit concentric waves of growth extending...
genome. GefA plays a significant role in pathogenesis. By inhibiting swarmingmotility and promoting biofilm formation, it helps the bacteria to colonize...
Christopher N.; Eichhorn, Ralf; Linke, Heiner; Forde, Nancy R. (2024-02-23). "Motility of an autonomous protein-based artificial motor that operates via a burnt-bridge...
capable of swarmingmotility and biofilm formation. Jamieson et al. demonstrate that altering the carbon and nitrogen sources provided in the swarming agar...
may be negative (light-induced reduction of motility) or positive (light-induced stimulation of motility). Photokinesis can cause cells to accumulate...
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