Contact: Jade Boyd
jadeboyd@rice.edu
713-348-6778
Rice University

M. xanthus Waves (2 of 2)

Caption: Scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School have identified the mechanism that allows individual Myxococcus xanthus bacteria to self-organize by the millions into periodic bands of traveling waves that help the colony spread and stay atop food until it is devoured.

Credit: Z. Vaksman, H. Kaplan/UT Medical School at Houston

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Related news release: Predatory bacterial crowdsourcing