Abstract
Three types of population growth and development of chemotaxic motile bacteria Escherichia coli on semi-solid nutrient media are investigated: a) stable development - circular symmetrical waves; b) bursts; c) fractal-like self-organization. Experimental investigation of the burst formation is presented. The microscopic analysis of growing fractal-like structures is carried out, and a mechanism for such structure formation is suggested. It is supposed that fractal-like bacterial structures growth is based on the principle of successively forming multiple micro-bursts. A mathematical model has been suggested to reproduce the experimental results. The structures obtained by numerical modeling of population growth in the parameter space 'substrate concentration - bacterial movement rate' reproduce the corresponding experimental structures in the space 'nutrient concentration in the media - the density of the media'.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 165-176 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Biological Physics |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 2-3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1999 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bacterial population
- Dynamics of spatial patterns
- Escherichia coli
- Fractal-like growth
- Mathematical model
- Structure formation