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The bacterium Myxoccocus xanthus produces multicellular protective dropletscalled fruiting bodies when starved. These structures form initially throughthe active dewetting of cells into surface-bound droplets, where substantialflows of the material are needed as the fruiting bodies grow and become round.These dynamics are followed by a primitive developmental process in which thefluid-like droplets of motile cells mature into mechanically-resilient moundsof non-motile spores that can resist significant mechanical perturbation fromthe external environment. To date, the mechanical properties of fruiting bodiesand the changes in cellular behavior that lead to maturation have not beenstudied. We use atomic force microscopy to probe the rheology of dropletsthroughout their development and find that relaxation occurs on two timescales, $\sim$1~s and $\sim$100~s. We use a two-element Maxwell-Wiechert modelto quantify the viscoelastic relaxation and find that at early developmentaltimes, cellular motility is responsible for the flow of the material but thatthis flow ceases when cells stop moving and become nonmotile spores. Later indevelopment there is a dramatic increase in the modulus of the droplet as cellssporulate and the fruiting body matures, resulting in a mostly elasticstructure that can protect spores from harsh environmental insult.

Rheological dynamics of active Myxococcus xanthus populations during development