TraitMech

TraitMech › MORPHOLOGY

twitching motility

traitmech:000061 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A flagella-independent surface motility driven by the extension, attachment, and retraction of type IV pili, producing intermittent, jerky translocation of cells across moist surfaces.

Twitching motility via type IV pilus extension and retraction

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking type-IV-pilus dynamics (extension, surface attachment, retraction) to flagella-independent surface translocation.

Twitching motility via type IV pilus extension and retraction Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for twitching motility.

Edge evidence

  • type IV pilus enables twitching motility RO:0002327

    Type IV pili are the molecular engines of twitching motility.

    • DOI:10.1146/annurev.micro.56.012302.160938 Mattick describes twitching as type-IV-pilus-driven surface translocation.
  • type IV pilus assembly enables twitching motility RO:0002327

    Extension–attachment–retraction cycles pull the cell across the surface.

    • DOI:10.1146/annurev.micro.57.030502.091014 Harshey treats twitching as a distinct surface-translocation strategy.
  • PilB extension ATPase drives type IV pilus extension

    PilB ATPase powers extension of the type IV pilus filament.

    • DOI:10.1128/jb.00359-24 Roberge & Burrows 2024: "Extension is driven by PilB bound to PilC"; T4P undergo cycles of extension/retraction powered by cytoplasmic motor ATPases.
  • PilT retraction ATPase drives type IV pilus retraction

    PilT ATPase powers retraction of the type IV pilus filament.

    • DOI:10.1128/jb.00359-24 Roberge & Burrows 2024: "Retraction is driven by PilT, which engages with PilC within the same cytoplasmic socket."
  • type IV pilus retraction enables twitching motility RO:0002327

    Pilus retraction pulls the cell across the surface, producing twitching translocation.

    • DOI:10.1128/jb.00442-23 Geiger et al. 2024: twitching is movement that pulls the cell across a surface through cooperative binding, pulling, and unbinding.
  • PilQ secretin enables surface exposure of type IV pilus surface exposure

    PilQ secretin is required for surface exposure of the assembled pilus filament.

    • DOI:10.1099/mic.0.001311 Pelicic 2023: pilQ pilT mutants assemble filaments trapped in the periplasm, indicating PilQ is required for surface exposure.
  • PilM/N/O/P alignment complex part of type IV pilus machine biolink:part_of

    The PilM/N/O/P alignment subcomplex is a structural part of the type IV pilus machine.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-53638-y Guo et al. 2024: the T4P machine includes an alignment subcomplex consisting of PilP, PilO, PilN, and PilM.

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1146/annurev.micro.56.012302.160938

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (1)

  • twitching RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1146/annurev.micro.56.012302.160938

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000702 [+24.397, -70.567, +20.807, -80.811, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate MORPHOLOGY/motility trait (twitching motility) under the existing motile class (METPO:1000702).

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (type IV pilus retraction → twitching) with GO node grounding and RO predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (GO:0044096×1).

  4. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 5 evidence-backed generic edges (8 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  5. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 2 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (RO:0002327×1, biolink:part_of×1).