What is "myxobacteria"

myxobacterium \myxobacterium\ n.; pl. myxobacteria. A type of bacteria that form colonies in self-produced slime; they inhabit moist soils or decaying plant matter or animal waste.

Syn: myxobacterium, myxobacter, gliding bacteria, slime bacteria.

n. (plural of myxobacterium English)

n. bacteria that form colonies in self-produced slime; inhabit moist soils or decaying plant matter or animal waste [syn: myxobacterium, myxobacter, gliding bacteria, slime bacteria]

The myxobacteria ("slime bacteria") are a group of bacteria that predominantly live in the soil and feed on insoluble organic substances. The myxobacteria have very large genomes, relative to other bacteria, e.g. 9–10 million nucleotides. Sorangium cellulosum has the largest bacterial genome, at 13.0 million nucleotides. Myxobacteria are included among the delta group of proteobacteria, a large taxon of Gram-negative forms.

Myxobacteria can move actively by gliding. They typically travel in swarms (also known as wolf packs), containing many cells kept together by intercellular molecular signals. Individuals benefit from aggregation as it allows accumulation of the extracellular enzymes that are used to digest food; this in turn increases feeding efficiency. Myxobacteria produce a number of biomedically and industrially useful chemicals, such as antibiotics, and export those chemicals outside the cell.