xanthus to aggregate and sporulate, concentrated cells were plated onto TPM starvation medium as described [61]. Plates were incubated at 32° for 5 days, during which developing cells were monitored for aggregation, rippling, and fruiting body morphogenesis, using a Nikon SMZ-U stereomicroscope. To determine if rod-shaped M. xanthus cells had differentiated into heat-resistant spores, samples were scraped from starvation plates after 5 days, examined by microscopy

for the presence of translucent, spherical spores, and titered after heat treatment at 50° on CTPM plates at 32° to quantify spores capable of germination. In each of these experiments, strains DK1622 (WT) and DK6204 (ΔmglBA), MxH2419 and MxH2375 www.selleckchem.com/products/Decitabine.html were used as controls and titrations were performed in triplicate. Immunoblot Analysis Total cell lysate from three separate liquid cultures and Magic Mark (Invitrogen) standards were separated by SDS-PAGE with a 12.5% Tris-glycine gel. After electrophoresis, resolved proteins were transferred to a Polyscreen PVDF membrane (Perkin-Elmer). Blots were incubated with primary (polyclonal α-MglA 1:1000 dilution) and secondary (IR800-labeled Goat α-Mouse 1:2500 dilution; Rockland) antibodies. Blots learn more were scanned using the 800 nm channel of a LiCor Odyssey Infrared Imager (LiCor Biosciences).

Immunofluorescence analysis M. xanthus strains were grown as previously described, then prepared as described [62] with a few alterations. Cells were fixed at 25 for 1 hr, and lysozyme was used at a concentration of 5 μg/ml for 15 min. After blocking overnight in 2% BSA (Sigma), slides were probed with α-MglA antibody at 1:200 and a 2° α-rabbit

antibody labeled with Alexa fluor 488 (Rockland) at 1:400 dilution. Cells were visualized using the 60× objective lens of a Nikon 80i, with a YFP filter. Acknowledgements The authors thank Dr. Kasia Dziewanowska for excellent technical assistance and Dr. Philip Youderian for helpful comments and encouragement. This work was supported by grant GM075242 from the National Institutes of Health to PLH and an IBEST Graduate Student Fellowship, NIH Grant P20 RR016448 from the COBRE Program of the National Center for Research Resources to SAF. Electronic supplementary material Additional file 1: Overlap of predicted MglA and experimentally derived Ras crystal structures. This figure shows an overlay of the predicted MglA crystal structure Thiamet G with Ha-Ras to identify structures of particular interest. Areas of differences between the two structures are highlighted in this figure. (PNG 186 KB) Additional file 2: Wild-type Myxococcus xanthus time-lapse in methylcellulose. This movie shows the motility observed in WT M. xanthus in methylcellulose. Microscopy was performed as described in the Methods. (MOV 3 MB) Additional file 3: Δ mglBA M. xanthus time-lapse in methylcellulose. This movie shows the motility observed in ΔmglBA M. xanthus in methylcellulose, showing a decrease in gliding rates and the oscillating phenotype.