Chemotaxis as a navigation strategy to boost range expansion

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 575; no. 7784; pp. 658 - 663
• Main Authors: Cremer, Jonas, Honda, Tomoya, Tang, Ying, Wong-Ng, Jerome, Vergassola, Massimo, Hwa, Terence
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.11.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13; 14/19; 14/63; 631/326; 631/553/1745; 631/553/1806; Agar; Analysis; Aroma; Carbon; Cell growth; Cell migration; Chemotactic factors; Chemotaxis; Chemotaxis - physiology; E coli; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - physiology; Gene expression; Growth; Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences; Microbial colonies; Models, Biological; Motility; multidisciplinary; Navigation behavior; Nutrient dynamics; Nutrients; Nutrients - metabolism; Observations; Partial differential equations; Physiological aspects; Physiology; Population; Population Growth; Range extension; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1733-y

Bacterial chemotaxis, the directed movement of cells along gradients of chemoattractants, is among the best-characterized subjects in molecular biology 1 – 10 , but much less is known about its physiological roles 11 . It is commonly seen as a starvation response when nutrients run out, or as an escape response from harmful situations 12 – 16 . Here we identify an alternative role of chemotaxis by systematically examining the spatiotemporal dynamics of Escherichia coli in soft agar 12 , 17 , 18 . Chemotaxis in nutrient-replete conditions promotes the expansion of bacterial populations into unoccupied territories well before nutrients run out in the current environment. Low levels of chemoattractants act as aroma-like cues in this process, establishing the direction and enhancing the speed of population movement along the self-generated attractant gradients. This process of navigated range expansion spreads faster and yields larger population gains than unguided expansion following the canonical Fisher–Kolmogorov dynamics 19 , 20 and is therefore a general strategy to promote population growth in spatially extended, nutrient-replete environments. Pioneering bacterial cells use chemotaxis along self-generated attractant gradients to facilitate rapid colonization of nutrient-replete environments.