Gliding motility

Gliding motility is a type of translocation used by microorganisms that is independent of propulsive structures such as flagella, pili, and fimbriae.

Twitching motility also allows microorganisms to travel along a surface, but this type of movement is jerky and uses pili as its means of transport.

This type of movement has been observed in phylogenetically diverse bacteria[6] such as cyanobacteria, myxobacteria, cytophaga, flavobacteria, and mycoplasma.

Bacteria move in response to varying climates, water content, presence of other organisms, and firmness of surfaces or media.

Gliding has been observed in a wide variety of phyla, and though the mechanisms may vary between bacteria, it is currently understood that it takes place in environments with common characteristics, such as firmness and low-water, which enables the bacterium to still have motility in its surroundings.

[13] Swarming motility occurs on softer semi-solid and solid surfaces (which usually involves movement of a bacterial population in a coordinated fashion via quorum sensing, using flagella to propel them), or twitching motility[6] on solid surfaces (which involves extension and retraction of type IV pili to drag the bacterium forward).