Information integration and collective motility in phototactic cyanobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Cells in microbial colonies integrate information across multiple spatial and temporal scales while sensing environmental cues. A number of photosynthetic cyanobacteria respond in a directional manner to incident light, resulting in the phototaxis of individual cells. Colonies of such bacteria exhibit large-scale changes in morphology, arising from cell-cell interactions, during phototaxis. These interactions occur through type IV pili-mediated physical contacts between cells, as well as through the secretion of complex polysaccharides ('slime') that facilitates cell motion. Here, we describe a computational model for such collective behaviour in colonies of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis. The model is designed to replicate observations from recent experiments on the emergent response of

SUBMITTER: Menon SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7237038 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature