Image provided by Jose Solbiati, John Gerlt Lab, Enzyme Function Initiative
Research funded by National Institutes of Health
Some types of bacteria exhibit swarming motility: the ability to travel quickly as a group, due to coordinated movement that causes the group to flow across a surface. This movement causes the branching, fractal pattern seen here in round laboratory dishes. Researchers in the Enzyme Function Initiative work to discover the function of unknown proteins; in this case, a protein involved in swarming motility.