EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Many species of bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Myxoccocus xanthus, move their bodies, not by rotating screw-like flagella to swim, but by pulling on a solid surface with their polar type IV pili.

Detailed explanation-2: -Finally, type IV pili are capable not only of establishing adhesion functions, but of giving rise to a special type of bacterial movement called twitching motility, that allows bacteria to move along a surface by extension, adhesion to the surface and retraction of this type of pili.

Detailed explanation-3: -We conclude that F pili play at least three roles in mating: (i) they initiate contacts between mating pairs; (ii) they facilitate the transfer of genetic material; and (iii) they draw mating cells into a close contact which increases the fertility of the union.

Detailed explanation-4: -Conjugative pili allow for the transfer of DNA between bacteria, in the process of bacterial conjugation. They are sometimes called “sex pili", in analogy to sexual reproduction, because they allow for the exchange of genes via the formation of “mating pairs".