Modeling mechanical interactions in growing populations of rod-shaped bacteria

Authored by James J Winkle, Oleg A Igoshin, Matthew R Bennett, Kresimir Josic, William Ott

Date Published: 2017

DOI: 10.1088/1478-3975/aa7bae

Sponsors: United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) United States National Science Foundation (NSF) Welch Foundation

Platforms: Chipmunk 2D

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

Advances in synthetic biology allow us to engineer bacterial collectives with pre-specified characteristics. However, the behavior of these collectives is difficult to understand, as cellular growth and division as well as extra-cellular fluid flow lead to complex, changing arrangements of cells within the population. To rationally engineer and control the behavior of cell collectives we need theoretical and computational tools to understand their emergent spatiotemporal dynamics. Here, we present an agent-based model that allows growing cells to detect and respond to mechanical interactions. Crucially, our model couples the dynamics of cell growth to the cell's environment: Mechanical constraints can affect cellular growth rate and a cell may alter its behavior in response to these constraints. This coupling links the mechanical forces that influence cell growth and emergent behaviors in cell assemblies. We illustrate our approach by showing how mechanical interactions can impact the dynamics of bacterial collectives growing in microfluidic traps.

Tags

Simulation Agent-based modeling Migration Emergent behavior growth Physics Organization Spatiotemporal dynamics Bacterial consortia Multi-cellular systems