Understanding the link between single cell and population scale responses of Escherichia coli in differing ligand gradients

Authored by Matthew P Edgington, Marcus J Tindall

Date Published: 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2015.09.003

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: MATLAB

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

We formulate an agent-based population model of Escherichia coli cells which incorporates a description of the chemotaxis signalling cascade at the single cell scale. The model is used to gain insight into the link between the signalling cascade dynamics and the overall population response to differing chemoattractant gradients. Firstly, we consider how the observed variation in total (phosphorylated and unphosphorylated) signalling protein concentration affects the ability of cells to accumulate in differing chemoattractant gradients. Results reveal that a variation in total cell protein concentration between cells may be a mechanism for the survival of cell colonies across a wide range of differing environments. We then study the response of cells in the presence of two different chemoattractants. In doing so we demonstrate that the population scale response depends not on the absolute concentration of each chemoattractant but on the sensitivity of the chemoreceptors to their respective concentrations. Our results show the clear link between single cell features and the overall environment in which cells reside. (C) 2015 Edgington and Tindall. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Tags

behavior Proteins Model Bacterial chemotaxis Signal-transduction Pathway