Gliding motility of the diatom Craspedostauros australis coincides with the intracellular movement of raphid-specific myosins.

Raphid diatoms are one of the few eukaryotes capable of gliding motility, which is remarkably fast and allows for quasi-instantaneous directional reversals. Besides other mechanistic models, it has been suggested that an actomyosin system provides the force for diatom gliding. However, in vivo data on the dynamics of actin and myosin in diatoms are lacking.