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Nature Reviews Microbiology 6, 569 (1 August 2008) | doi:10.1038/nrmicro1962

Biofilms: Clutch control

Sheilagh Molloy

Biofilms have long been known to comprise architecturally complex communities of sessile bacterial cells, but what switches off bacterial motility within biofilms has been a mystery. Now, a new study published in Science reveals that in Bacillus subtilis biofilms, motility is switched off through the activity of a protein that acts as a clutch and disables the flagellar motor.