Title: | Correlated phenotypic transitions to competence in bacterial colonies |
Author(s): | Hecht I; Ben-Jacob E; Levine H; |
Address: | "Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA" |
Journal Title: | Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys |
DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevE.76.040901 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1539-3755 (Print) 1539-3755 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Genetic competence is a phenotypic state of a bacterial cell in which it is capable of importing DNA, presumably to improve survival under stress. Motivated by several colony-level known responses, we present a model for the influence of quorum sensing on the transition to competence of B. Subtilis. Coupling to the external signal creates an effective inhibitory mechanism, which results in anticorrelation between the cycles of adjacent cells. We show that this is consistent with recent experimental measurements and propose measurement methods to verify the role of quorum-sensing signals" |
Keywords: | "Bacillus subtilis/metabolism Bacteria *Bacterial Physiological Phenomena Bacterial Proteins Biophysics/*methods Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Models, Biological Models, Chemical Models, Statistical Molecular Conformation Phenotype Pheromones Quoru;" |
Notes: | "MedlineHecht, Inbal Ben-Jacob, Eshel Levine, Herbert eng 2007/11/13 Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2007 Oct; 76(4 Pt 1):040901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.76.040901. Epub 2007 Oct 2" |