title: Nutrient chemotaxis suppression of a diffusive instability in bacterial colony dynamics.
abstract: Bacteria grown on a semisolid agar surface have been observed to form branching patterns as the colony envelope propagates outward. The fundamental cause of this instability relates to the need for limited nutrient to diffuse towards the colony. Here, we investigate the effect on this instability of allowing the bacteria to move chemotactically in response to the nutrient gradient. Our results show that this additional effect has a tendency to suppress the instability. Our calculations are done within the context of a simple "cutoff" model of colony dynamics, but presumably remain valid for more complex and hence more realistic approaches.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0319, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arouh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000187:drug effects; D003470:Culture Media / Q000494:pharmacology; D004058:Diffusion / Q000187:drug effects; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media