Individual-based model for quorum sensing with background flow.
Quorum sensing is a wide-spread mode of cell-cell communication among bacteria in which cells release a signalling substance at a low rate. The concentration of this substance allows the bacteria to gain information about population size or spatial confinement. We consider a model for N cells which communicate with each other via a signalling substance in a diffusive medium with a background flow. The model consists of an initial boundary value problem for a parabolic PDE describing the exterior concentration u of the signalling substance, coupled with N ODEs for the masses ai of the substance within each cell. The cells are balls of radius R in R3, and under some scaling assumptions we formally derive an effective system of N ODEs describing the behaviour of the cells. The reduced system is then used to study the effect of flow on communication in general, and in particular for a number of geometric configurations.
Hannes
H
Uecker
Institut für Mathematik, Universität Oldenburg, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany, hannes.uecker@uni-oldenburg.de.
Hannes
H
Uecke
Johannes
J
Müller
Burkhard A
BA
Hense
D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D044085:Microfluidics; D008954:Models, Biological; D053038:Quorum Sensing / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*