%0 Journal Article %A Masaki Mizutani %A Isil Tulum %A Yoshiaki Kinosita %A Takayuki Nishizaka %A Makoto Miyata %T Detailed analyses of stall force generation in Mycoplasma mobile gliding %D 2017 %R 10.1101/142133 %J bioRxiv %P 142133 %X Mycoplasma mobile glides on solid surfaces at a velocity of up to 4.5 μm/s with a unique mechanism. The gliding machinery composed of hundreds of units generates the force for gliding based on the energy of ATP, and catches and pulls the sialylated oligosaccharides fixed on solid surfaces. In the present study, we measured the stall force of a wild type and mutant strains of M. mobile carrying a bead manipulated by using optical tweezers. The strains enhanced for binding showed weaker stall force than the wild-type strain, indicating that the stall force is related to the step of force generation rather than binding. The stall force of the wild-type strain decreased linearly from 113 to 19 pN by the addition of free sialyllactose, a sialylated oligosaccharide from 0 to 0.5 mM with decreasing the number of working units. In the 0.5 mM sialyllactose conditions, the cells carrying a bead loaded by the optical tweezers showed stepwise movements with force increments. The force increments distributed from 1 to 2 pN. Considering the 70-nm large step size, this small unit force may be explained by the large gear ratio involved in the gliding machinery of M. mobile.Significance Mycoplasma is a group of bacteria parasitic for animals. Dozens of species glide on their host tissues for infection. The gliding machinery of Mycoplasma mobile, the fastest species includes intracellular motors and many legs on the cell surface. In the present study, we measured the force generation precisely by using strongly focused laser beam, called optical tweezers, in different conditions. The measurements suggested that the gliding machinery has a large gear ratio to achieve the fast gliding speed. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2017/05/25/142133.full.pdf