title: Influence of topology on bacterial social interaction.
abstract: The environmental topology of complex structures is used by Escherichia coli to 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 x 250 microm) with a narrow opening of 10-30 microm. 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.
authors: Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
authors: Sungsu
authors: S
authors: Park
authors: Peter M
authors: PM
authors: Wolanin
authors: Emil A
authors: EA
authors: Yuzbashyan
authors: Hai
authors: H
authors: Lin
authors: Nicholas C
authors: NC
authors: Darnton
authors: Jeffry B
authors: JB
authors: Stock
authors: Pascal
authors: P
authors: Silberzan
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Austin
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008954:Models, Biological; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins