M. xanthus is a predatory bacterium that moves on exclusively solid surfaces and exhibits various collective behaviors throughout its lifecycle. In the presence of prey (here E. coli), M. xanthus cells self-organize into periodic bands of traveling waves, termed ripples (left-hand side). In the areas without prey, M. xanthus cells are under nutrient stress and as a result self-organize into haystack-shaped, spore-filled structures termed fruiting bodies (right-hand side, yellow mounds). See Zhang et al.
Image Credit: Zalman Vaksman and Heidi Kaplan, University of Texas Medical School.
Editorials
Ten Simple Rules To Commercialize Scientific Research
PLOS Computational Biology: published September 27, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002712
Ten Simple Rules for Online Learning
PLOS Computational Biology: published September 13, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002631
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An Online Bioinformatics Curriculum
PLOS Computational Biology: published September 13, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002632
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