Trichodesmium, a key marine cyanobacterium and ocean fertilizer, inhabits the vast global tropical and subtropical oceans. It has been long appreciated that the propensity to form aggregates is critical to Trichodesmium’s ability to cope with its environment.
Our work shows that aggregation obeys a simple rule: within an aggregate, each filament adjusts its overlap with other filaments independently based on gliding and reversing. This simple mechanism suffices for organized aggregates to form and reshape under external stimuli, such as changes in light intensity, enabling a rich portfolio of adaptation strategies.
Check it out in this Science (Supplementary Materials) publication.
Many thanks and congratulations to everyone involved!