Gliding Mechanism of the Mycoplasma pneumoniae Subgroup: Implications from Studies on Mycoplasma mobile
Makoto Miyata and Daisuke Nakane
from: Mollicutes: Molecular Biology and Pathogenesis (Edited by: Glenn F. Browning and Christine Citti). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2014)
Abstract
More than ten Mollicute species classified into the hominis and pneumoniae subgroups form a membrane protrusion at a cellular pole, and glide in this direction using mechanisms not seen in other bacterial genera. Our studies are unveiling the gliding mechanism of Mycoplasma mobile, the most rapidly motile species in the hominis subgroup. However, the gliding mechanism used by members of the pneumoniae subgroup are still unclear. Here, we review the gliding of members of the pneumoniae subgroup, in reference to that of M. mobile, with respect to features of their motility, their surface and cytoskeletal structures, their component proteins and their targets for binding to enable gliding. While the major features appear to be common between these two subgroups, no similarities have been found in the amino acid sequences of the component proteins involved in gliding motility read more ...
