Abstract
More and more studies have indicated that myxobacteria are able to live in seawater conditions, which, however, can decrease the fruiting body formation ability and also the adventurous (A) and social (S) motility systems of the myxobacteria. To learn the adaptation mechanism of the salt-tolerant myxobacteria to marine conditions, we analyzed 10 salt-tolerant Myxococcus strains of their fruiting body formation and motility. The isolates were from marine samples and possessed different levels of salt tolerance. They had the dual motility system and formed fruiting bodies in the presence of suitable seawater concentrations. Some high salt-tolerant strains even lost their fruiting abilities in the absence of seawater. In response to the presence of seawater, the S-motility was found to be increased in the high salt-tolerants but decreased in the low salt-tolerants. The A-motility, on the other hand, was observed in all the salt-tolerant Myxococcus strains, but increased or decreased in response to the presence of seawater. Perceived shifts of fruiting body formation abilities and motilities discovered in the salt-tolerant Myxococcus strains suggested an ecological adaptation of myxobacterial social behaviors to the marine environments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Campos, JM, Geisselsoder, J, Zusman, DR (1978) Isolation of bacteriophage MX4, a generalized transducing phage for Myxococcus xanthus. J Mol Biol 119: 167–178
Dawid, W (2000) Biology and global distribution of myxobacteria in soils. FEMS Microbiol Rev 24: 403–427
Dworkin, M (1996) Recent advances in the social and developmental biology of the myxobacteria. Microbiol Rev 60: 70–102
Fudou, R, Jojima, Y, Iizuka, T, Yamanaka, S (2002) Haliangium ochraceum gen. nov., sp. nov. and Haliangium tepidum sp. nov.: novel moderately halophilic myxobacteria isolated from coastal saline environments. J Gen Appl Microbiol 48: 109–116
Hillesland, KL, Velicer, GJ (2005) Resource level affects relative performance of the two motility systems of Myxococcus xanthus. Microb Ecol 49: 558–566
Hodgkin, J, Kaiser, D (1979) Genetics of gliding motility in Myxococcus xanthus (Myxobacterales): genes controlling movement of single cells. Mol Gen Genet 171: 167–176
Hodgkin, J, Kaiser, D (1979) Genetics of gliding motility in Myxococcus xanthus (Myxobacterales): two gene systems control movement. Mol Gen Genet 171: 177–191
Iizuka, T, Jojima, Y, Fudou, R, Yamanaka, S (1998) Isolation of myxobacteria from the marine environment. FEMS Microbiol Lett 169: 317–322
Iizuka, T, Jojima, Y, Fudou, R, Hiraishi, A, Ahn, JW, Yamanaka, S (2003) Plesiocystis pacifica gen. nov., sp. nov., a marine myxobacterium that contains dihydrogenated menaquinone, isolated from the Pacific coasts of Japan. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 53: 189–195
Iizuka, T, Jojima, Y, Fudou, R, Tokura, M, Hiraishi, A, Yamanaka, S (2003) Enhygromyxa salina gen. nov., sp. nov., a slightly halophilic myxobacterium isolated from the coastal areas of Japan. Syst Appl Microbiol 26: 189–196
Kaiser, D (2004) Signaling in myxobacteria. Annu Rev Microbiol 58: 75–98
Kaiser, D, Losick, R (1993) How and why bacteria talk to each other. Cell 73: 873–885
Kaplan, HB (2003) Multicellular development and gliding motility in Myxococcus xanthus. Curr Opin Microbiol 6: 572–577
Li, YZ, Hu, W, Zhang, YQ, Qiu, ZJ, Zhang, Y, Wu, BH (2002) A simple method to isolate salt-tolerant myxobacteria from marine samples. J Microbiol Methods 50: 205–209
Li, Y, Sun, H, Ma, X, Lu, A, Lux, R, Zusman, D, Shi, W (2003) Extracellular polysaccharides mediate pilus retraction during social motility of Myxococcus xanthus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100: 5443–5448
Reichenbach, H (1999) The ecology of the myxobacteria. Environ Microbiol 1: 15–21
Reichenbach, H, Dworkin, M (1992) The myxobacteria. In: Balows, A, Trûper, HG, Dworkin, M, Harder, W, Schleifer, KH (Eds.) The Prokaryotes, 2nd edn. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 3416–3487
Shi, W, Zusman, DR (1993) The two motility systems of Myxococcus xanthus show different selective advantages on various surfaces. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 90: 3378–3382
Shimkets, LJ (1990) Social and developmental biology of the myxobacteria. Microbiol Rev 54: 473–501
Wall, D, Kaiser, D (1999) Type IV pili and cell motility. Mol Microbiol 32: 1–10
Ward, MJ, Zusman, DR (1997) Regulation of directed motility in Myxococcus xanthus. Mol Microbiol 24: 885–893
Zhang, J, Liu, Z, Wang, S, Jiang, P (2002) Characterization of a bioflocculant produced by the marine myxobacterium Nannocystis sp. NU-2. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 59: 517–522
Zhang, YQ, Li, YZ, Wang, B, Wu, ZH, Zhang, CY, Gong, X, Qiu, ZJ, Zhang, Y (2005) Characteristics and living patterns of marine myxobacterial isolates. Appl Environ Microbiol 71: 3331–3336
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by grants 30270023 and 30370792 of the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation and 2002CCCD1800 of pre-973 Programs of China.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, B., Hu, W., Liu, H. et al. Adaptation of Salt-tolerant Myxococcus Strains and their Motility Systems to the Ocean Conditions. Microb Ecol 54, 43–51 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-006-9169-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-006-9169-y