Swimming behaviour of the multicellular magnetotactic prokaryote ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis’ under applied magnetic fields and ultraviolet light

Abstract

Magnetotactic bacteria move by rotating their flagella and concomitantly are aligned to magnetic fields because they present magnetosomes, which are intracellular organelles composed by membrane-bound magnetic crystals. This results in magnetotaxis, which is swimming along magnetic field lines. Magnetotactic bacteria are morphologically diverse, including cocci, rods, spirilla and multicellular forms known as magnetotactic multicellular prokaryotes (MMPs). 'Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis' is presently the best known MMP. Here we describe the helical trajectories performed by these microorganisms as they swim forward, as well as their response to UV light. We measured the radius of the trajectory, time period and translational velocity (velocity along the helix axis), which enabled the calculation of other trajectory parameters such as pitch, tangential velocity (velocity along the helix path), angular frequency, and theta angle (the angle between the helix path and the helix axis). The data revealed that 'Ca. M. multicellularis' swims along elongated helical trajectories with diameters approaching the diameter of the microorganism. In addition, we observed that 'Ca. M. multicellularis' responds to UV laser pulses by swimming backwards, returning to forward swimming several seconds after the UV laser pulse. UV light from a fluorescence microscope showed a similar effect. Thus, phototaxis is used in addition to magnetotaxis in this microorganism.