Stripe formation in bacterial systems with density-suppressed motility

Engineered bacteria in which motility is reduced by local cell density generate periodic stripes of high and low density when spotted on agar plates. We study theoretically the origin and mechanism of this process in a kinetic model that includes growth and density-suppressed motility of the cells....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2012-05, Vol.108 (19), p.198102-198102, Article 198102
Main Authors: Fu, Xiongfei, Tang, Lei-Han, Liu, Chenli, Huang, Jian-Dong, Hwa, Terence, Lenz, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria - growth & development
Bacterial Adhesion
Bacterial Physiological Phenomena
Models, Biological
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Summary:Engineered bacteria in which motility is reduced by local cell density generate periodic stripes of high and low density when spotted on agar plates. We study theoretically the origin and mechanism of this process in a kinetic model that includes growth and density-suppressed motility of the cells. The spreading of a region of immotile cells into an initially cell-free region is analyzed. From the calculated front profile we provide an analytic ansatz to determine the phase boundary between the stripe and the no-stripe phases. The influence of various parameters on the phase boundary is discussed.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.198102