title: Self-electrophoresis is not the mechanism for motility in swimming cyanobacteria.
abstract: Swimming cyanobacteria do not have flagella. In principle, they could be propelled by streams of ions flowing from head to tail, i.e., by a self-electrophoretic mechanism. We have ruled out this possibility by showing that cells of a swimming Synechococcus species fail to drift in an external electric field.
authors.affiliation: Rowland Institute for Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Pitta
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Berg
mesh_terms: D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000502:physiology*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004586:Electrophoresis; D007477:Ions; D018715:Microscopy, Video; D009068:Movement
chemical_list: D007477:Ions