Open filament tracks drive Bacteroidota gliding motility

3D super-resolution tracking of single adhesin molecules in Flavobacterium johnsoniae shows gliding uses non-repeating, crossing trajectories with reversals, contradicting a single closed-loop track model.

• Why it matters: The field lacks direct, high-resolution evidence for how the adhesin “track” is organized, limiting understanding of how Bacteroidota gliding is powered and structured.
• What they did: The study performed 3D super-resolution tracking of individual adhesins in Flavobacterium johnsoniae, then used the observed motion patterns to build a new gliding model.
• The result: Adhesins are explained by a network of multiple independently moving, open filaments rather than one closed loop, linking this organization to other filament-based bacterial cytoskeleton systems.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.