In this Review, Waksmanet al. examine recent advances in our structural understanding of various pilus systems in Gram-negative bacteria and discuss their functional implications.

The bacteria steal genetic material from temperate phages during this dormant period and form a biological "memory" of the invader that their offspring inherit as the bacteria multiply.

Researchers have characterized a mechanism that allows bacteria to direct their movement in response to the mechanical properties of the surfaces the microbes move on -- a finding that could help ...

Depiction of bacteriophage PP7 (orange) at the cell surface of Pseudomonas aeruginosa detaching the bacterium's pilus (blue). The researchers identified protein structures and interactions using ...

In contrast to EF-P, however, this protein reacts to the metabolism of the cell and adapts protein synthesis to the prevailing requirements through specific chemical modifications.

The cell then splits apart, pushing the duplicated material out and creating two identical "daughter" cells. Some types of bacteria, such as cyanobacteria and firmicutes, reproduce via budding.

This video shows a pilus shoot out from the bacterial cell to latch onto a piece of DNA. The image on the right shows the bacteria and pilus in green and the DNA in red. The image on the left ...

Bacteria use calcium not only in governing the transition to a biofilm, but in movement, maintaining cell structure and in infection. Christian Meyer, a postdoctoral fellow in the University of ...

These bacteria have pilus motors, which are the key to the spiral waves. Pilus motors are molecular motors, which are attached to pili—thin, hair-like appendages present on the bacterial cell ...