The environment topography alters the way to multicellularity in Myxococcus xanthus

Ramos, C. H. (author)

Rodriguez-Sanchez, E. (author)

Del Angel, J. A. A. (author)

Arzola, A. V. (author)

Benitez, M. (author)

Escalante, A. E. (author)

Franci, A. (author)

Volpe, Giovanni, 1979 (author): Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Institutionen för fysik (GU),Department of Physics (GU)

Rivera-Yoshida, N. (author)

(creator_code:org_t)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2021
2021
English.
In: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 7:35

Related links:: https://www.science....; show more...; https://gup.ub.gu.se...; https://doi.org/10.1...; show less...

Abstract Subject headings

The social soil-dwelling bacterium Myxococcus xanthus can form multicellular structures, known as fruiting bodies. Experiments in homogeneous environments have shown that this process is affected by the physicochemical properties of the substrate, but they have largely neglected the role of complex topographies. We experimentally demonstrate that the topography alters single-cell motility and multicellular organization in M. xanthus. In topographies realized by randomly placing silica particles over agar plates, we observe that the cells' interaction with particles drastically modifies the dynamics of cellular aggregation, leading to changes in the number, size, and shape of the fruiting bodies and even to arresting their formation in certain conditions. We further explore this type of cell-particle interaction in a computational model. These results provide fundamental insights into how the environment topography influences the emergence of complex multicellular structures from single cells, which is a fundamental problem of biological, ecological, and medical relevance.

By the author/editor: Ramos, C. H.; Rodriguez-Sanche ...; Del Angel, J. A. ...; Arzola, A. V.; Benitez, M.; Escalante, A. E.; show more...; Franci, A.; Volpe, Giovanni, ...; Rivera-Yoshida, ...; show less...

About the subject

NATURAL SCIENCES: NATURAL SCIENCES; and Biological Scien ...; and Microbiology

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