A self-driven phase transition drives Myxococcus xanthus fruiting body formation

TL;DR

This study reveals that Myxococcus xanthus forms fruiting bodies through a self-driven phase transition influenced by cell motility and density, combining experiments and simulations to uncover the underlying mechanism.

Contribution

It demonstrates that fruiting body formation is driven by a self-organized phase separation controlled at the single cell level, integrating experimental data with theoretical modeling.

Findings

Fruiting body formation is a phase separation process.

Cell motility and density govern phase transition.

A dimensionless Peclet number captures motility effects.

Abstract

Combining high-resolution single cell tracking experiments with numerical simulations, we show that starvation-induced fruiting body (FB) formation in Myxococcus xanthus is a phase separation driven by cells that tune their motility over time. The phase separation can be understood in terms of cell density and a dimensionless Peclet number that captures cell motility through speed and reversal frequency. Our work suggests that M. xanthus take advantage of a self-driven non-equilibrium phase transition that can be controlled at the single cell level.