Regensburg 2010 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Downloads | Hilfe

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 26: From Single-Molecule to Tissue Dynamics

BP 26.9: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 25. März 2010, 16:30–16:45, H43

Transition to clustering in bacterial colonies: myxobacteria mutants as self-propelled rods — •Fernando Peruani¹, Joern Starruss², Markus Baer³, Andreas Deutsch², Vladimir Jakovlievic⁴, and Lotte Sogaard-Andersen⁴ — ¹Service de Physique de l Etat Condense, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France — ²ZIH, Technische Universitaet Dresden, Zellescher Weg 12, 01069, Dresden, Germany — ³Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestr. 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany — ⁴Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 35043 Marburg, Germany

Myxobacteria, as many other bacteria, exhibit a transition from unicellularity to multicellularity when the level of nutrients is low. This fascinating process starts with the onset of clustering and collective motion. In contrast to Dictyostelium discoideum and other microorganisms, myxobacteria aggregate and coordinate their motion, in this early stage, without making use of diffusing chemical signals. We show through experiments with the mutant A+S-Frz- of M. xanthus, as well as through theoretical models, that is the active motion of the cells plus their rod-like shape what presumably allows cells to exhibit such collective effects. Provided the cell density is above a given threshold, a transition to clustering occurs. The cluster size statistics from experimental data can be reproduced by a simple models for self-propelled rods.