Lattice-Boltzmann model for bacterial chemotaxis.
We present a new numerical approach for modeling bacterial chemotaxis and the fate and transport of a chemoattractant in bulk liquids. This Lattice-Boltzmann method represents the microorganisms and the chemoattractant by quasi-particles that move, collide, and react with each other on a two-dimensional numerical lattice. We use the model to simulate traveling bands of bacteria along self-generated gradients in substrate concentration in bulk liquids. Particularly, we simulate Pseudomonas putida that respond chemotactically to naphthalene dissolved in water. We find that only a fraction of a bacterial slug injected into a domain containing the chemoattractant at constant concentration forms a traveling band as the slug length exceeds a critical value. An expanding bacterial ring forms as one injects a droplet of bacteria into a two-dimensional domain.
Hilpert
Markus
M
Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 313 Ames Hall, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
D002630:Chemotactic Factors / Q000494:pharmacology; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological; D009281:Naphthalenes / Q000494:pharmacology; D009716:Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; D016958:Pseudomonas putida / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D002630:Chemotactic Factors; D009281:Naphthalenes; C031721:naphthalene