Effects of cell-cell communication on bacterial chemotaxis

TL;DR

This study uses a mathematical model to explore how bacterial communication influences chemotaxis, revealing that communication can both slow and speed up movement depending on secretion coupling, with implications for understanding bacterial behavior.

Contribution

The paper introduces a mathematical model showing how communication strength and coupling affect bacterial chemotaxis speed and coordination, providing new insights into bacterial communication mechanisms.

Findings

Strong communication keeps bacteria together but slows chemotaxis.

Coupling secretion to chemoattractant detection can speed up chemotaxis.

Partially blocking communication receptors may unexpectedly accelerate chemotaxis.

Abstract

Bacteria track chemical gradients using a biased random walk, a process called chemotaxis. Experiments suggest that bacteria also communicate during this process. Using a mathematical model, we find that sufficiently strong communication succeeds in keeping a population of bacteria together but slows down chemotaxis. However, if the secretion of the communication molecule is coupled to the detection of the external chemoattractant, chemotaxis can be faster than without communication. Intriguingly, in this regime we predict that, even though blocking the communication receptors should slow down chemotaxis, partially blocking or underexpressing them should speed it up. Our work provides physical insights on how communication and chemotaxis are connected and may help explain why chemotaxing bacteria communicate.