Figure 1. Sketch of the predominant motility patterns.
a) Run-and-tumble, b) Run-reverse, and c) Run-reverse-flick. During a “run” event, a cell moves with high persistence. Runs are interrupted by reorientation events like tumbling or reversal. The time steps 
indicate the sequence of these events. An average turning angle after tumbling in E. coli bacteria is 
(a), whereas it is an almost perfect reversal of 
for many marine bacteria, or cells with twitching motility due to cell appendages, called pili (b). V. alginolyticus (c) alternates reversals (at 
) with randomizing flicks (at 
) with an average turning angle of 
.