Studies of Bacterial Branching Growth using Reaction-Diffusion Models for Colonial Development

Various bacterial strains exhibit colonial branching patterns during growth on poor substrates. These patterns reflect bacterial cooperative self-organization and cybernetic processes of communication, regulation and control employed during colonial development. One method of modeling is the continu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Golding, Ido, Kozlovsky, Yonathan, Cohen, Inon, Ben-Jacob, Eshel
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 06.07.1998
Subjects
Bacteria
Cybernetics
Lubrication
Organic chemistry
Substrates
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Summary:Various bacterial strains exhibit colonial branching patterns during growth on poor substrates. These patterns reflect bacterial cooperative self-organization and cybernetic processes of communication, regulation and control employed during colonial development. One method of modeling is the continuous, or coupled reaction-diffusion approach, in which continuous time evolution equations describe the bacterial density and the concentration of the relevant chemical fields. In the context of branching growth, this idea has been pursued by a number of groups. We present an additional model which includes a lubrication fluid excreted by the bacteria. We also add fields of chemotactic agents to the other models. We then present a critique of this whole enterprise with focus on the models' potential for revealing new biological features.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.9807088