identifier: traitmech:000581 label: galvanotaxis definition: A motile phenotype in which an organism biases its active movement in response to an electric field. definition_source: DOI:10.1101/sqb.1988.053.01.006 trait_category: PHYSIOLOGY term_kind: CLASS mapping_status: PROPOSED parent_traits: - METPO:1000702 evidence: - reference: DOI:10.1101/sqb.1988.053.01.006 snippet: movement of a motile organism or cell in direct response to an electric current notes: Adler and Shi, publisher's freely accessible Excerpt, https://symposium.cshlp.org/content/53/23.short. The full paywalled paper was not accessed. The disposition requires active motility; passive electrophoretic displacement alone is insufficient. - reference: DOI:10.1128/jb.178.4.1113-1119.1996 snippet: motile Escherichia coli K-12 placed in an electric field swims toward the anode notes: Shi, Stocker and Adler, primary abstract (PMID:8576046), verified through Europe PMC. Rough K-12 and smooth Salmonella differ in direction; surface composition and capsules qualify the response. Only the abstract was accessed, not the full paper. canonical_examples: - taxon_id: NCBITaxon:83333 taxon_label: Escherichia coli K-12 reference: DOI:10.1128/jb.178.4.1113-1119.1996 note: The primary abstract reports anode-directed swimming of motile rough K-12 cells. This is not a claim about every E. coli strain or an invariant direction across surface compositions. - taxon_id: NCBITaxon:588858 taxon_label: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium str. 14028S reference: DOI:10.1038/s41564-024-01778-8 note: 'Figure 5 and Supplementary Table 1: Green ST is IR715, a nalidixic-acid-resistant 14028S derivative, carrying pGFT/RalFc. These fluorescent cells migrated toward the cathode at 2 V/cm in vitro. Do not substitute the SW473 flagellar mutant or the separate cheB mutant for this behavioral example.' causal_graphs: - graph_id: galvanotaxis_flagellar_motility title: Flagellar motility in electric-field-biased migration description: Flagellin supports the motility apparatus used for active galvanotaxis. scope_status: MECHANISTIC scope_notes: The flagellar-motility branch supported in Salmonella 14028S-background cells, not a complete electrical sensing or orientation mechanism. The fliC/fljB double mutant establishes dependence on the flagellar apparatus, not individual FliC necessity or flagellin sufficiency. Host CFTR is outside this microbial graph. nodes: - node_id: galvanotaxis_electric_field label: electric field node_type: ENVIRONMENTAL_FACTOR description: Applied electrical stimulus, 2 V/cm in the Sun et al. in vitro assay. - node_id: galvanotaxis_flagellin label: flagellin node_type: GENE_OR_PROTEIN grounding: InterPro:IPR001492 gene_symbols: - fliC - fljB description: Flagellin family forming the flagellar filament; not the entire flagellum, its rotary motor or an established electrical sensor. protein_examples: - uniprot_id: UniProtKB:A0A0F6B2U2 protein_label: Flagellin gene_symbol: fliC taxon_id: NCBITaxon:588858 taxon_label: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium str. 14028S entry_status: UNREVIEWED proteome_id: UP000002695 retrieved_on: '2026-10-03' entry_version: 42 sequence_version: 1 role: FliC is one of the two alternative flagellins removed together in SW473; individual FliC necessity was not established. evidence: - reference: DOI:10.1038/s41564-024-01778-8 snippet: Most of these mutants were non-motile notes: 'Results, flagellar-mutant paragraph and Supplementary Table 1: SW473 is an IR715 fliC/fljB double mutant. The exact 14028S FliC identity, taxon and versions were resolved at https://www.ebi.ac.uk/proteins/api/proteins/A0A0F6B2U2; https://rest.uniprot.org/proteomes/UP000002695.json confirms reference-proteome membership. UniProtKB REST protein requests failed during retrieval; the EBI Proteins API supplied the metadata. This accession anchors the strain background, not an experimentally sequenced SW473 protein.' - node_id: galvanotaxis_flagellar_motility label: flagellar motility node_type: BIOLOGICAL_PROCESS grounding: GO:0071973 description: Active movement powered by the bacterial flagellar apparatus. - node_id: galvanotaxis_process label: electric-field-biased active migration node_type: BIOLOGICAL_PROCESS description: Biased active movement, not passive drift of fixed cells. - node_id: galvanotaxis_trait label: galvanotaxis node_type: TRAIT grounding: traitmech:000581 description: Organismal disposition for electric-field-guided active movement. edges: - subject: galvanotaxis_electric_field predicate: modulates predicate_id: RO:0002211 object: galvanotaxis_process description: An applied electric field biases active migration direction. evidence: - reference: DOI:10.1038/s41564-024-01778-8 snippet: robustly biased migration of all cells notes: Results and Figure 5c-e compare no-field and 2 V/cm conditions. DH5alpha K-12-background cells migrated toward the anode and IR715-background cells toward the cathode. This edge does not prescribe one direction for every microbe. - subject: galvanotaxis_flagellin predicate: contributes to predicate_id: RO:0002326 object: galvanotaxis_flagellar_motility description: Flagellin supplies the filament component of the motility apparatus. evidence: - reference: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/entry/InterPro/IPR001492/ snippet: Flagellin is the subunit protein that polymerises to form the flagella notes: InterPro IPR001492 family description, verified through https://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/api/entry/interpro/IPR001492/ on 2026-10-03. This is a family, not merely an N- or C-terminal domain. Filament assembly and the motor are also required; flagellin alone is not sufficient for movement. - subject: galvanotaxis_flagellar_motility predicate: contributes to predicate_id: RO:0002326 object: galvanotaxis_process description: Flagellar motility enables active electrical-field-guided migration. evidence: - reference: DOI:10.1038/s41564-024-01778-8 snippet: flagella are indeed essential for electrical field-guided galvanotaxis notes: 'Results, flagellar-mutant experiment: SW473 cells were mostly non-motile and unresponsive. This establishes a motility requirement, not a specific electrical sensor. Fixed-cell controls distinguish passive drift from live-cell swimming.' - subject: galvanotaxis_process predicate: confers predicate_id: METPO:2007700 object: galvanotaxis_trait description: Electric-field-guided active movement realizes the galvanotaxis phenotype. evidence: - reference: DOI:10.1101/sqb.1988.053.01.006 snippet: migration is toward the cathode or the anode notes: Publisher's free Excerpt defines galvanotaxis and allows either pole. Direction depends on organism and context, rather than being a universal part of this trait definition. discussions: - discussion_id: galvanotaxis-orientation-and-mapping-boundaries prompt: Resolve electrical orientation mechanisms without equating active motility with passive drift. kind: KNOWLEDGE_GAP status: OPEN rationale: DOI:10.1128/jb.178.4.1113-1119.1996 proposes differential electrophoretic mobility of the body and flagellar filaments as an orientation model. DOI:10.1038/s41564-024-01778-8 observes flagellar redistribution and a largely non-motile double mutant; it does not establish a universal receptor circuit or separate the individual flagellin contributions. A cheB mutant retains the electrical response. The source's weakly biased B. subtilis assay is not a robust canonical example. Physical orientation can guide powered locomotion, but fixed-cell drift alone is not this phenotype. QuickGO searches for galvanotaxis and electrotaxis found no exact term on 2026-10-03; MeSH Taxis Response is broader and excluded from xrefs. GO:0071973 grounds only the flagellar process. posed_by: codex posed_date: '2026-10-03' - discussion_id: galvanotaxis-source-data-coordinate-convention prompt: Reconcile directedness signs before importing numerical source-data values. kind: CURATION_TODO status: OPEN rationale: 'Sun et al., Figure 5d and Results report negative directedness for E. coli and positive for Salmonella. The source workbook''s Fig. 5d,e sheet labels Red to anode and Green to cathode but contains opposite-signed cosine values. Direction labels agree with Figure 5c and the 1996 primary abstract; the coordinate conventions need reconciliation. No numerical directedness values are imported and no correction is inferred. Source: https://media.springernature.com/original/springer-static/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41564-024-01778-8/MediaObjects/41564_2024_1778_MOESM10_ESM.xlsx' posed_by: codex posed_date: '2026-10-03' curation_history: - timestamp: '2026-10-03T23:20:08Z' curator: codex action: MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID changes: Added galvanotaxis with three primary DOI sources, an InterPro family source, exact snippets, two strain-qualified examples and a flagellar-motility graph. Verified NCBI taxa, IPR001492, GO:0071973, the 14028S FliC accession and its reference proteome. Ignored-and-hidden searches found no exact trait or METPO class; reserved METPO:1053500 in proposal v458. Kept electrical orientation and source-data sign conventions as open questions. llm_assisted: true