Abstract
Swarming, a collective motion of many thousands of cells, produces colonies that rapidly spread over surfaces. In this paper, we introduce a cell-based model to study how interactions between neighboring cells facilitate swarming. We chose to study Myxococcus xanthus, a species of myxobacteria, because it swarms rapidly and has well-defined cell–cell interactions mediated by type IV pili and by slime trails. The aim of this paper is to test whether the cell contact interactions, which are inherent in pili-based S motility and slime-based A motility, are sufficient to explain the observed expansion of wild-type swarms. The simulations yield a constant rate of swarm expansion, which has been observed experimentally. Also, the model is able to quantify the contributions of S motility and A motility to swarming. Some pathogenic bacteria spread over infected tissue by swarming. The model described here may shed some light on their colonization process.
Highlights
Bacterial swarming, a coordinated motion of many bacterial cells, facilitates their spread on the surface of a solid medium, like agar [1]
Using the known mechanics of these engines and the ways they are coordinated, we have developed a cell-based model to study the role of social interactions in bacterial swarming
It shows that microscopic social interactions help to form the ordered collective motion observed in swarms
Summary
A coordinated motion of many bacterial cells, facilitates their spread on the surface of a solid medium, like agar [1]. Bacterial swarming has been studied quantitatively in the modeling context of self-propelled particle systems [6,7,8]. Most models, such as those for Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli (see [8] for a review), are based on long-range cellular interactions facilitated by chemical gradient or nutrient level (chemotaxis). How interactions between cells facilitate swarming is still an open question Understanding this question might shed light on the self-organizing process in bacteria, such as the spreading of a biofilm in an infected tissue and the development of multicellular fruiting bodies [4,5]. Type IV pili are found at one pole of a wide range of bacteria, including many pathogens that cause plant and animal disease
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