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Temporal fluctuations in chemotaxis gain implement a simulated-tempering strategy for efficient navigation in complex

Omer Karin1,2,3, Uri Alon1

  • 1Department Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

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|August 4, 2021
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Bacterial chemotaxis gain variation allows bacteria to navigate complex environments. Fluctuating gain enables efficient sampling of attractant landscapes, balancing gradient detection with exploration.

Keywords:
BioinformaticsBiological sciencesMathematical biosciencesMicrobiologySystems biology

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Area of Science:

  • Systems Biology
  • Microbial Ecology

Background:

  • Bacterial chemotaxis involves individual variations in tumbling and adaptation.
  • Recent findings reveal significant cell-cell variation in chemotaxis gain.
  • High gain variation is puzzling as low gain hinders chemotactic movement.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide a functional explanation for the observed variation in bacterial chemotaxis gain.
  • To explore the role of gain fluctuations in bacterial navigation within complex environments.

Main Methods:

  • Formal analogy established between bacterial chemotaxis and probabilistic sampling algorithms.
  • Mathematical modeling to demonstrate the function of temporal gain fluctuations.

Main Results:

  • Temporal fluctuations in chemotaxis gain function as simulated tempering.
  • This mechanism allows bacteria to effectively sample attractant distributions with multiple peaks.
  • Periods of high gain facilitate rapid gradient detection, while low gain aids in exploring new peaks.

Conclusions:

  • Gain fluctuations are crucial for bacteria to thrive in complex, multi-peak attractant environments.
  • This mechanism offers a functional explanation for individual variation in chemotaxis gain.
  • Gain fluctuations may play a broader role in organismal navigation strategies.