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Updated: Jul 27, 2025
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Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations
Published on: October 29, 2016
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Signaling in microbial communities with open boundaries.
James J Winkle1, Soutick Saha2, Joseph Essman3
1Department of Mathematics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.
Biophysical Journal
|June 10, 2023
Summary
Mathematical modeling reveals how boundary flows and microbial community geometry impact cell-cell signaling. Signaling lengthscale can depend on geometry alone, challenging traditional diffusion-based assumptions.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Mathematical Biology
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Microbial communities form at interfaces of solid substrates and fluid flows.
- Microfluidic devices are common for studying these communities, presenting open-boundary conditions.
- Extracellular signaling in open systems is less understood than in closed systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of advective-diffusive boundary flows and population geometry on cell-cell signaling in microbial monolayers.
- To reveal conditions where signaling lengthscale is independent of diffusion and degradation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized mathematical modeling to simulate signaling dynamics.
- Analyzed the interplay between boundary flow, population geometry, and intercellular communication.
Main Results:
- Identified conditions where intercellular signaling lengthscale is determined solely by population geometry.
- Demonstrated that diffusive coupling with boundary flow can induce signal gradients within isogenic populations, even without internal flow.
- Provided new theoretical insights into published experimental findings.
Conclusions:
- Boundary dynamics and environmental geometry are crucial factors in modeling microbial cell-cell signaling.
- The study offers experimentally verifiable predictions for future research.
- Informs the understanding of cell behavior in natural and synthetic microbial systems.
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