crossmark EDITORIAL
Classic Spotlight: a Window on Multicellular Development Ann M. Stock Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
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n response to nutrient deprivation, myxobacteria form multicellular fruiting bodies filled with spores. These macroscopic aggregates of soil bacteria have intrigued microbiologists since the late 19th century. In recent decades, Myxococcus xanthus has served as a model organism for cellular and molecular studies aimed at characterizing social interactions, intercellular communication, motility, cell differentiation, and the underlying signaling pathways and gene regulation responsible for these behaviors. Prior to the pioneering work of Kuner and Kaiser published in the Journal of Bacteriology in 1982 (1), fruiting body development was studied almost exclusively on agar surfaces—a substrate that limited microscopic analyses and chemical manipulations. Kuner and Kaiser identified a piliated, motile M. xanthus strain that could be grown in liquid culture and that, when dispersed into broth in a petri dish, settled and adhered to the bottom of the dish and aggregated upon nutrient depletion. The study of fruiting body formation on plastic or glass surfaces submerged in liquid allowed Kuner and Kaiser to investigate defined chemical conditions and enabled discovery of the requirement for calcium and an optimal pH for sporulation. The surfaces also enabled unprecedented microscopic documentation of fruiting body formation. It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Indeed,
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jb.asm.org
the text in the publication by Kuner and Kaiser barely exceeds that word count. The sole figure, a panel of six electron micrographs from a time course of Myxococcus fruiting body formation taken over a 3-day period, occupies a full page of the note. The beautiful images require little explanation, showing a uniform mat of cells that transitions to an irregular center of aggregation and then becomes circularly symmetric as a mound of cells rises up, coated by a thin skin of slime with a slightly ruffled skirt. Reproduced many times up to the present day, the photographs from this note have become iconic images of Myxococcus development. REFERENCE 1. Kuner JM, Kaiser D. 1982. Fruiting body morphogenesis in submerged cultures of Myxococcus xanthus. J Bacteriol 151:458 – 461.
Citation Stock AM. 2016. Classic spotlight: a window on multicellular development. J Bacteriol 198:602. doi:10.1128/JB.00960-15. Address correspondence to [email protected]. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. The views expressed in this Editorial do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal or of ASM.
Journal of Bacteriology
February 2016 Volume 198 Number 4
Classic Spotlight: a Window on Multicellular Development Ann M. Stock Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
I
n response to nutrient deprivation, myxobacteria form multicellular fruiting bodies filled with spores. These macroscopic aggregates of soil bacteria have intrigued microbiologists since the late 19th century. In recent decades, Myxococcus xanthus has served as a model organism for cellular and molecular studies aimed at characterizing social interactions, intercellular communication, motility, cell differentiation, and the underlying signaling pathways and gene regulation responsible for these behaviors. Prior to the pioneering work of Kuner and Kaiser published in the Journal of Bacteriology in 1982 (1), fruiting body development was studied almost exclusively on agar surfaces—a substrate that limited microscopic analyses and chemical manipulations. Kuner and Kaiser identified a piliated, motile M. xanthus strain that could be grown in liquid culture and that, when dispersed into broth in a petri dish, settled and adhered to the bottom of the dish and aggregated upon nutrient depletion. The study of fruiting body formation on plastic or glass surfaces submerged in liquid allowed Kuner and Kaiser to investigate defined chemical conditions and enabled discovery of the requirement for calcium and an optimal pH for sporulation. The surfaces also enabled unprecedented microscopic documentation of fruiting body formation. It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Indeed,
602
jb.asm.org
the text in the publication by Kuner and Kaiser barely exceeds that word count. The sole figure, a panel of six electron micrographs from a time course of Myxococcus fruiting body formation taken over a 3-day period, occupies a full page of the note. The beautiful images require little explanation, showing a uniform mat of cells that transitions to an irregular center of aggregation and then becomes circularly symmetric as a mound of cells rises up, coated by a thin skin of slime with a slightly ruffled skirt. Reproduced many times up to the present day, the photographs from this note have become iconic images of Myxococcus development. REFERENCE 1. Kuner JM, Kaiser D. 1982. Fruiting body morphogenesis in submerged cultures of Myxococcus xanthus. J Bacteriol 151:458 – 461.
Citation Stock AM. 2016. Classic spotlight: a window on multicellular development. J Bacteriol 198:602. doi:10.1128/JB.00960-15. Address correspondence to [email protected]. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. The views expressed in this Editorial do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal or of ASM.
Journal of Bacteriology
February 2016 Volume 198 Number 4
