Although the fruiting bodies of "M. xanthus" are relatively primitive compared with, say, the elaborate structures produced by "Stigmatella aurantiaca" and other myxobacteria, the great majority of genes known to be involved in development are conserved across species. In order to make agar cultures of "M. xanthus" grow into fruiting bodies, one simply can plate the bacteria on starvation media. Furthermore, it is possible to artificially induce the production of myxospores without the intervening formation of fruiting bodies, by adding compounds such as glycerol or various metabolites to the medium. In this way, different stages in the developmental cycle can be experimentally isolated.