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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Recording Multicellular Behavior in Myxococcus xanthus Biofilms using Time-lapse Microcinematography
Published on: August 6, 2010
Pattern formation and traveling waves in myxobacteria: theory and modeling
O A Igoshin1, A Mogilner, R D Welch
1Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Abstract:
Recent experiments have provided new quantitative measurements of the rippling phenomenon in fields of developing myxobacteria cells. These measurements have enabled us to develop a mathematical model for the ripple phenomenon on the basis of the biochemistry of the C-signaling system, whereby individuals signal by direct cell contact. The model quantitatively reproduces all of the experimental observations and illustrates how intracellular dynamics, contact-mediated intercellular communication, and cell motility can coordinate to produce collective behavior. This pattern of waves is qualitatively different from that observed in other social organisms, especially Dictyostelium discoideum, which depend on diffusible morphogens.
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