1. Influence of topology on bacterial social interaction.
- Author
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Park, Sungsu, Wolanin, Peter M., Yuzbashyn, Emil A., Hai Lin, Darnton, Nicholas C., Stock, Jeffry B., Silberzan, Pascal, and Austin, Robert
- Subjects
ESCHERICHIA coli ,TOPOLOGY ,ESCHERICHIA ,BACTERIAL growth ,MOLECULAR structure ,STRUCTURAL bioinformatics - Abstract
The environmental topology of complex structures is used by Escherichia colito create traveling waves of high cell density, a prelude to quorum sensing. When cells are grown to a moderate density within a confining microenvironment, these traveling waves of cell density allow the cells to find and collapse into confining topologies, which are unstable to population fluctuations above a critical threshold. This was first observed in mazes designed to mimic complex environments, then more clearly in a simpler geometry consisting of a large open area surrounding a square (250 × 250 μm) with a narrow opening of 10-30 μm. Our results thus show that under nutrient- deprived conditions bacteria search out each other in a collective manner and that the bacteria can dynamically confine themselves to highly enclosed spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2003
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