Bacteria go for a spin

Researchers may have found the mechanism powering a mysterious gliding motion in bacteria.

Bacterial locomotion often relies on appendages. Filamentous structures called flagella propel some microbes, while others glide using pili, extensions that a microbe shoots out from its leading end and then retracts to pull itself forward.

But another form of gliding, first described nearly 3 decades ago, doesn’t involve appendages.