title: A biochemical oscillator explains several aspects of Myxococcus xanthus behavior during development.
abstract: During development, Myxococcus xanthus cells produce a series of spatial patterns by coordinating their motion through a contact-dependent signal, the C-signal. C-signaling modulates the frequency at which cells reverse their gliding direction. It does this by interacting with the Frz system (a homolog of the Escherichia coli chemosensory system) via a cascade of covalent modifications. Here we show that introducing a negative feedback into this cascade results in oscillatory behavior of the signaling circuit. The model explains several aspects of M. xanthus behavior during development, including the nonrandom distribution of reversal times, and the differences in response of the reversal frequency to both moderate and high levels of C-signaling at different developmental stages. We also propose experiments to test the model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Oleg A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Igoshin
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldbeter
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oster
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology; D005246:Feedback; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009068:Movement; D016941:Myxococcus xanthus / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C065626:FrzCD protein, Myxococcus xanthus; D008780:Methyltransferases; C038706:chemotaxis methyltransferase