Sliding

Sliding motility is a passive form of surface spreading that does not require an active motor but instead relies on surfactants to reduce surface tension, enabling the colony to spread away from the origin, driven by the outward pressure of cell growth. PubMed. Sliding can be observed in wild isolates of Bacillus subtilis not expressing or deleted for hag gene PubMed. Sliding requires surfactin production and the presence of potassium in the medium PubMed. Further, sliding requires various components that are related to biofilm formation PubMed.

Parent categories	4. Lifestyles 4.1. Exponential and early post-exponential lifestyles
Neighbouring categories	4.1.1. Motility and chemotaxis 4.1.2. Swarming 4.1.3. Sliding 4.1.4. Biofilm formation 4.1.5. Genetic competence
Related categories
Overview on the categories (Excel file) All genes and their categories (Excel file)

Labs working on sliding

• Daniel Kearns
• Roberto Kolter
• Ray Fall
• Akos T Kovacs
• Roberto Grau

Key genes and operons involved in sliding

• required for sliding in B. subtilis NCIB 3610 on MSggN medium
  • epsA-epsB-epsC-epsD-epsE-epsF-epsG-epsH-epsI-epsJ-epsK-epsL-epsM-epsN-epsO
  • tasA
  • srfAA
  • srfAB
  • ktrA
  • ktrB
  • ktrC
  • ktrD

• required for sliding in B. subtilis natto wild type and B. subtilis NCIB 3610 hag derivative on LB medium
  • epsA-epsB-epsC-epsD-epsE-epsF-epsG-epsH-epsI-epsJ-epsK-epsL-epsM-epsN-epsO
  • bslA
  • srfAA
  • srfAC

• regulation
  • KinB
  • KinC
  • Spo0A

Key reviews

Theresa Hölscher, Ákos T Kovács
Sliding on the surface: bacterial spreading without an active motor.
Environ Microbiol: 2017, 19(7);2537-2545
[PubMed:28370801] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (I p)

Joyce E Patrick, Daniel B Kearns
Swarming motility and the control of master regulators of flagellar biosynthesis.
Mol Microbiol: 2012, 83(1);14-23
[PubMed:22092493] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (I p)

Daniel B Kearns
A field guide to bacterial swarming motility.
Nat Rev Microbiol: 2010, 8(9);634-44
[PubMed:20694026] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (I p)