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Related Experiment Videos

Modeling a synthetic multicellular clock: repressilators coupled by quorum sensing.

Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo1, Michael B Elowitz, Steven H Strogatz

  • 1Center for Applied Mathematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|July 17, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Cellular oscillators synchronize through quorum sensing, enhancing biological rhythmicity. This study models genetic oscillators in E. coli, predicting robust self-synchronization for collective biological rhythms.

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Area of Science:

  • Systems biology
  • Synthetic biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Multicellular organisms rely on synchronized cellular biochemical rhythms for function.
  • Understanding the mechanisms of collective rhythm emergence in biological systems is a significant challenge.
  • Cellular oscillators, like genetic clocks, exhibit diverse behaviors and inherent noise.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how coupling via inter-cell signaling influences synchronization in a population of cellular oscillators.
  • To model a synthetic biological clock in Escherichia coli to understand collective rhythmicity.
  • To explore the role of quorum sensing in achieving robust self-synchronization.

Main Methods:

  • Mathematical and computational modeling of a population of Escherichia coli cells.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Simulation of genetic oscillators coupled through a quorum-sensing mechanism.
  • Analysis of system dynamics to quantify rhythmicity and synchronization.

    • Main Results:

    • A diverse and noisy community of genetic oscillators can achieve robust self-synchronization.
    • Quorum-sensing mediated coupling significantly enhances global rhythmicity in the system.
    • The model predicts a synchronization transition in a population of biological oscillators.

    Conclusions:

    • Inter-cell signaling, specifically quorum sensing, is a viable mechanism for robust synchronization of cellular oscillators.
    • Synthetic biological systems can serve as powerful platforms for studying fundamental principles of biological organization.
    • This work provides a quantitative framework for understanding synchronization phenomena in biological populations.