Motility - Cellular-level Motility

Cellular-level Motility

At the cellular level, different modes of motility exist:

  • flagellar motility, a swimming-like motion (observed for example in spermatozoa, propelled by the regular beat of their flagellum, or E. coli, which swims by rotating a helical prokaryotic flagellum)
  • amoeboid movement, a crawling-like movement, which also makes swimming possible
  • gliding motility

Many cells are not motile, for example Yersinia pestis at 37 °C, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Shigella.

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