Myxococcus xanthus is a motile (twitching motility) gram
negative thin rods, found ubiquitously in soil. The fascinating thing about M. xanthus is its predatory action. They
form colonies which are saprotrophic, biofilm known as swarm. This swarm
modifies its environment which facilitates its predatory action. M. xanthus produces extracellular
digestive enzymes, which helps it to degrade extracellular matter and
metabolize it easily. Another interesting fact about M. xanthus is that they form
fruiting bodies (dome shaped structure made up of approx. 100,000 cells) under
starving conditions. These fruiting bodies then forms dormant myxospores
which becomes metabolically active under favorable conditions.
Myxococcus xanthus is
also known for its production of some of
medicinal useful secondary metabolites.
