Cargo transport shapes the spatial organization of a microbial community

Abstract

Significance We describe a situation in which bacteria typical of the human oral microbiome are organized spatially by gliding cells, species of Capnocytophaga , that move backward and forward over the substratum. The mobile adhesins that pull the cells over the substratum also attach to cells of nonmotile bacterial species, which are carried up and down the motile cells as cargo. The synchronized transport of nonmotile cargo bacteria helps to shape a polymicrobial community.