Uniform modeling of bacterial colony patterns with varying nutrient and substrate

Deborah Schwarcz, Herbert Levine, Eshel Ben-Jacob, Gil Ariel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Bacteria develop complex patterns depending on growth condition. For example, Bacillus subtilis exhibit five different patterns depending on substrate hardness and nutrient concentration. We present a unified integro-differential model that reproduces the entire experimentally observed morphology diagram at varying nutrient concentrations and substrate hardness. The model allows a comprehensive and quantitative comparison between experimental and numerical variables and parameters, such as colony growth rate, nutrient concentration and diffusion constants. As a result, the role of the different physical mechanisms underlying and regulating the growth of the colony can be evaluated.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)91-99
Number of pages9
JournalPhysica D: Nonlinear Phenomena
Volume318-319
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2016

Keywords

  • Bacterial colonies
  • Pattern formation
  • Random lattice
  • Reaction-diffusion model

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Mathematical Physics
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Applied Mathematics

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