A link between cell movement and gene expression argues that motility is required for cell-cell signaling during fruiting body development.

Abstract Nonmotile mutants of Myxococcus xanthus (Myxobacterales) failed to execute the morphogenetic movements required to shape a fruiting body. In addition, nonmotile mutants produced very few spores when plated for fruiting body development at cell densities appropriate for wild-type cells. At higher initial cell densities, the proportion of nonmotile cells that sporulate increased, indicating that one important function of motility in fruiting body development is to increase the local cell density. However, even at 10 times normal cell density, nonmotile cells sporulated at only 1% the wild-type level. This sporulation deficiency of nonmotile mutants accompanies an altered pattern of gene expression, monitored by using transcriptional fusions of lacZ to genes expressed at specific times during fruiting body development. Motility was not required for normal expression of five lac fusions that are expressed within the first 6 hr of fruiting-body development. However, the levels of expression from five lac fusions to later-expressed genes were reduced or abolished in nonmotile strains. beta-Galactosidase expression in these late Tn5 lac insertions was increased, and fruiting body development occurred in certain nonmotile strains that can be stimulated to move when mixed with a donor strain. This shows that motility itself is required because the stimulated cells are nonmotile genotypically. The nonmotile mutations had the same effect on developmental beta-galactosidase expression from these 10 lac fusions as an insertion mutation in the csg (formerly spoC) gene. csg mutants have a cell-cell interaction defect that blocks fruiting body development at approximately 6 hr. The similarity in the pattern of developmental expression of motility mutants and csg mutants suggests that motility is required for this csg-mediated cell-cell interaction.