Self-Driven Phase Transitions Drive Myxococcus xanthus Fruiting Body Formation

Combining high-resolution single cell tracking experiments with numerical simulations, we show that starvation-induced fruiting body formation in Myxococcus xanthus is a phase separation driven by cells that tune their motility over time. The phase separation can be understood in terms of cell densi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2019-06, Vol.122 (24), p.248102-248102, Article 248102
Main Authors: Liu, Guannan, Patch, Adam, Bahar, Fatmagül, Yllanes, David, Welch, Roy D, Marchetti, M Cristina, Thutupalli, Shashi, Shaevitz, Joshua W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria
Cell Movement - physiology
Computer simulation
Dimensionless numbers
Motility
Myxococcus xanthus - chemistry
Myxococcus xanthus - cytology
Myxococcus xanthus - physiology
Phase separation
Phase Transition
Phase transitions
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Summary:Combining high-resolution single cell tracking experiments with numerical simulations, we show that starvation-induced fruiting body formation in Myxococcus xanthus is a phase separation driven by cells that tune their motility over time. The phase separation can be understood in terms of cell density and a dimensionless Péclet number that captures cell motility through speed and reversal frequency. Our work suggests that M. xanthus takes advantage of a self-driven nonequilibrium phase transition that can be controlled at the single cell level.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.248102