Orientational control is an efficient control mechanism for phase switching in the E. coli fim system

The fim system in E. coli controls the expression of type-1 fimbriae. These are hair-like structures that can be used to attach to host cells. Fimbriation is controlled by a mechanism called “orientational control.” We present two families of models for orientational control to understand the detail...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of theoretical biology 2007-02, Vol.244 (3), p.541-551
Main Authors: Chu, Dominique, Blomfield, Ian C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacterial Adhesion
E. coli
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - physiology
Escherichia coli Infections - transmission
Fim
Fimbriae, Bacterial - physiology
Markov Chains
Models, Biological
Phase variation
Steady-state
Stochastic Processes
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Summary:The fim system in E. coli controls the expression of type-1 fimbriae. These are hair-like structures that can be used to attach to host cells. Fimbriation is controlled by a mechanism called “orientational control.” We present two families of models for orientational control to understand the details of how it works. We find that the main benefits of orientational control are that (i) it allows rapid adjustment of fimbriation levels in response to a change of environmental conditions while (ii) keeping the overall frequencies with which a cell switches between the fimbriate state and the afimbriate state low. The main reason for the efficiency of orientational control in regulation of fimbriation levels is that it keeps the system far from its steady state.
ISSN:0022-5193
1095-8541
DOI:10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.08.016