Prospects for the gliding mechanism of Mycoplasma mobile

- A bacterium, Mycoplasma mobile glides by a unique mechanism.
- It uses ATP energy to repeatedly catch, pull, and release sialylated oligosaccharides on host cells with its approximately 50-nm long legs.
- The gliding machinery is a large structure composed of huge surface proteins and internal jellyfish-like structure.
- This system may have developed from an accidental combination between an adhesin and a rotary ATPase.