Introduction

The myxobacteria are a group of bacteria that predominantly live in the soil and feed on insoluble organic substances. The myxobacteria have very large genomes relative to other bacteria, e.g. 9-10 million nucleotides except for Anaeromyxobacter and Vulgatibacter. One species of myxobacteria, Minicystis rosea, has the largest known bacterial genome with over 16 million nucleotides. The second largest is another myxobacteria Sorangium cellulosum. Myxobacteria are included among the delta group of proteobacteria, a large taxon of Gram-negative forms.

Myxobacteria can move by gliding. They typically travel in swarms, containing many cells kept together by intercellular molecular signals. Individuals benefit from aggregation as it allows accumulation of the extracellular enzymes that are used to digest food; this in turn increases feeding efficiency. Myxobacteria produce a number of biomedically and industrially useful chemicals, such as antibiotics, and export those chemicals outside the cell. Myxobacteria are used to study the polysaccharide production in gram-negative bacteria like the model Myxococcus Xanthus which have four different machineries of polysaccharide secretion and where new Wzx/Wzy machinery producing a new polysaccharide was identified in 2020.

Myxobacteria are one of the bacterial groups that have effectively made the transition from single cell to multicellular life, exhibiting multifaceted cooperative behaviors and multicellular development comparable in sophistication to that seen in macroscopic social organisms. In depleted conditions, they form multicellular biofilms called fruiting bodies that vary from simple mounds to convoluted three dimensional structures, within which some bacteria altruistically develop into non-reproductive cells, while others differentiate into resistant and reproductive spores.

Myxobacteria are the proteobacteria known to produce interesting and biologically active secondary metabolites as actinobacteria. The secondary metabolites from Myxobacteria often target cellar structures that are rarely the targets of other compounds and because of this feature biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in this group of bacteria have been studied extensively.

Gram-negative bacteria

Myxobacteria are Gram-negative slime molds that are on the borderline between unicellular and multicellular organisms. Upon nutrient starvation, cells cooperate to build up multicellular fruiting bodies comprising several sporangioles that contain myxospores. A lactam analogue of epothilones with increased metabolic longevity (ixabepilone) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of aggressive forms of breast cancer. Disorazoles have also been shown to possess anticancer activity through the disruption of microtubule polymerization. In fact, 10% of myxobacterial secondary metabolites affect cytoskeleton function.

Myxobacteria are Gram-negative slime molds that are on the borderline between unicellular and multicellular organisms. Upon nutrient starvation, cells cooperate to build up multicellular fruiting bodies comprising several sporangioles that contain myxospores. When nutrients are available again, the myxospores germinate to build up a new swarm of vegetative cells. In the early 1980s, a pheromone activity of a myxobacterium, Stigmatella aurantiaca, was detected and was shown to be involved in the formation of fruiting bodies. The existence of a secreted low-molecular-weight substance(s) was suggested by a dialysis experiment, which showed that Stigmatella cells cannot aggregate if an extracellular substance(s) is removed by dialysis.

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Best Regards,

Mary Wilson,

Associate Managing Editor,

Medical Microbiology & Diagnosis

E-mail: microbiology@jpeerreview.com