Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria. Janulevicius, A., van Loosdrecht, M. C.<nbsp>M., Simone, A., & Picioreanu, C. Biophysical Journal, 99(10):3129--3138, 2010. doi abstract bibtex Myxobacteria are social bacteria that exhibit a complex life cycle culminating in the development of multicellular fruiting bodies. The alignment of rod-shaped myxobacteria cells within populations is crucial for development to proceed. It has been suggested that myxobacteria align due to mechanical interactions between gliding cells and that cell flexibility facilitates reorientation of cells upon mechanical contact. However, these suggestions have not been based on experimental or theoretical evidence. Here we created a computational mass-spring model of a flexible rod-shaped cell that glides on a substratum periodically reversing direction. The model was formulated in terms of experimentally measurable mechanical parameters, such as engine force, bending stiffness, and drag coefficient. We investigated how cell flexibility and motility engine type affected the pattern of cell gliding and the alignment of a population of 500 mechanically interacting cells. It was found that a flexible cell powered by engine force at the rear of the cell, as suggested by the slime extrusion hypothesis for myxobacteria motility engine, would not be able to glide in the direction of its long axis. A population of rigid reversing cells could indeed align due to mechanical interactions between cells, but cell flexibility impaired the alignment.
@article{ Janulevicius:CellFlexibility2010,
author = {A. Janulevicius and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. and A. Simone and C. Picioreanu},
title = {Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria},
journal = {Biophysical Journal},
year = {2010},
volume = {99},
number = {10},
pages = {3129--3138},
kind = {journal paper (ISI)},
doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2010.08.075},
pdf = {J13 - Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria -- Janulevicius, van Loosdrecht,
Simone, Picioreanu - bj - 2010.pdf},
abstract = {Myxobacteria are social bacteria that exhibit a complex life cycle culminating in the development of
multicellular fruiting bodies. The alignment of rod-shaped myxobacteria cells within populations is
crucial for development to proceed. It has been suggested that myxobacteria align due to mechanical
interactions between gliding cells and that cell flexibility facilitates reorientation of cells upon
mechanical contact. However, these suggestions have not been based on experimental or theoretical
evidence. Here we created a computational mass-spring model of a flexible rod-shaped cell that glides
on a substratum periodically reversing direction. The model was formulated in terms of experimentally
measurable mechanical parameters, such as engine force, bending stiffness, and drag coefficient. We
investigated how cell flexibility and motility engine type affected the pattern of cell gliding and
the alignment of a population of 500 mechanically interacting cells. It was found that a flexible cell
powered by engine force at the rear of the cell, as suggested by the slime extrusion hypothesis for
myxobacteria motility engine, would not be able to glide in the direction of its long axis. A
population of rigid reversing cells could indeed align due to mechanical interactions between cells,
but cell flexibility impaired the alignment.}
}
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C.<nbsp>M.; Simone, A.; and Picioreanu, C.</span>\n\t<!-- <span class=\"bibbase_paper_year\">2010</span>. -->\n</span>\n\n\n\n<i>Biophysical Journal</i>,\n\n99(10):3129--3138.\n\n 2010.\n\n\n\n\n<br class=\"bibbase_paper_content\"/>\n\n<span class=\"bibbase_paper_content\">\n \n \n \n <a href=\"javascript:showBib('Janulevicius:CellFlexibility2010')\">\n <img src=\"http://www.bibbase.org/img/filetypes/bib.png\" \n\t alt=\"Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria [bib]\" \n\t class=\"bibbase_icon\"\n\t style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px; border: 0px; vertical-align: text-top\"><span class=\"bibbase_icon_text\">Bibtex</span></a>\n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n <a class=\"bibbase_abstract_link\" href=\"javascript:showAbstract('Janulevicius:CellFlexibility2010')\">Abstract</a>\n \n \n</span>\n\n<!-- -->\n<!-- <div id=\"abstract_Janulevicius:CellFlexibility2010\"> -->\n<!-- Myxobacteria are social bacteria that exhibit a complex life cycle culminating in the development of multicellular fruiting bodies. The alignment of rod-shaped myxobacteria cells within populations is crucial for development to proceed. It has been suggested that myxobacteria align due to mechanical interactions between gliding cells and that cell flexibility facilitates reorientation of cells upon mechanical contact. However, these suggestions have not been based on experimental or theoretical evidence. Here we created a computational mass-spring model of a flexible rod-shaped cell that glides on a substratum periodically reversing direction. The model was formulated in terms of experimentally measurable mechanical parameters, such as engine force, bending stiffness, and drag coefficient. We investigated how cell flexibility and motility engine type affected the pattern of cell gliding and the alignment of a population of 500 mechanically interacting cells. It was found that a flexible cell powered by engine force at the rear of the cell, as suggested by the slime extrusion hypothesis for myxobacteria motility engine, would not be able to glide in the direction of its long axis. A population of rigid reversing cells could indeed align due to mechanical interactions between cells, but cell flexibility impaired the alignment. -->\n<!-- </div> -->\n<!-- -->\n\n</div>\n","downloads":0,"bibbaseid":"janulevicius-vanloosdrecht-simone-picioreanu-cellflexibilityaffectsthealignmentofmodelmyxobacteria-2010","role":"author","year":"2010","volume":"99","type":"article","title":"Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria","pdf":"J13 - Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria -- Janulevicius, van Loosdrecht, Simone, Picioreanu - bj - 2010.pdf","pages":"3129--3138","number":"10","kind":"journal paper (ISI)","key":"Janulevicius:CellFlexibility2010","journal":"Biophysical Journal","id":"Janulevicius:CellFlexibility2010","doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2010.08.075","bibtype":"article","bibtex":"@article{ Janulevicius:CellFlexibility2010,\n author = {A. Janulevicius and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. and A. Simone and C. Picioreanu},\n title = {Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria},\n journal = {Biophysical Journal},\n year = {2010},\n volume = {99},\n number = {10},\n pages = {3129--3138},\n kind = {journal paper (ISI)},\n doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2010.08.075},\n pdf = {J13 - Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria -- Janulevicius, van Loosdrecht,\n\t\t Simone, Picioreanu - bj - 2010.pdf},\n abstract = {Myxobacteria are social bacteria that exhibit a complex life cycle culminating in the development of\n\t\t multicellular fruiting bodies. The alignment of rod-shaped myxobacteria cells within populations is\n\t\t crucial for development to proceed. It has been suggested that myxobacteria align due to mechanical\n\t\t interactions between gliding cells and that cell flexibility facilitates reorientation of cells upon\n\t\t mechanical contact. However, these suggestions have not been based on experimental or theoretical\n\t\t evidence. Here we created a computational mass-spring model of a flexible rod-shaped cell that glides\n\t\t on a substratum periodically reversing direction. The model was formulated in terms of experimentally\n\t\t measurable mechanical parameters, such as engine force, bending stiffness, and drag coefficient. We\n\t\t investigated how cell flexibility and motility engine type affected the pattern of cell gliding and\n\t\t the alignment of a population of 500 mechanically interacting cells. It was found that a flexible cell\n\t\t powered by engine force at the rear of the cell, as suggested by the slime extrusion hypothesis for\n\t\t myxobacteria motility engine, would not be able to glide in the direction of its long axis. A\n\t\t population of rigid reversing cells could indeed align due to mechanical interactions between cells,\n\t\t but cell flexibility impaired the alignment.}\n}","author_short":["Janulevicius, A.","van Loosdrecht, M.<nbsp>C.<nbsp>M.","Simone, A.","Picioreanu, C."],"author":["Janulevicius, A.","van Loosdrecht, M. C. M.","Simone, A.","Picioreanu, C."],"abstract":"Myxobacteria are social bacteria that exhibit a complex life cycle culminating in the development of multicellular fruiting bodies. The alignment of rod-shaped myxobacteria cells within populations is crucial for development to proceed. It has been suggested that myxobacteria align due to mechanical interactions between gliding cells and that cell flexibility facilitates reorientation of cells upon mechanical contact. However, these suggestions have not been based on experimental or theoretical evidence. Here we created a computational mass-spring model of a flexible rod-shaped cell that glides on a substratum periodically reversing direction. The model was formulated in terms of experimentally measurable mechanical parameters, such as engine force, bending stiffness, and drag coefficient. We investigated how cell flexibility and motility engine type affected the pattern of cell gliding and the alignment of a population of 500 mechanically interacting cells. It was found that a flexible cell powered by engine force at the rear of the cell, as suggested by the slime extrusion hypothesis for myxobacteria motility engine, would not be able to glide in the direction of its long axis. A population of rigid reversing cells could indeed align due to mechanical interactions between cells, but cell flexibility impaired the alignment."},"bibtype":"article","biburl":"http://cm.strumech.citg.tudelft.nl/simone/simone.bib","downloads":0,"title":"Cell flexibility affects the alignment of model myxobacteria","year":2010,"dataSources":["h3mqA2vavTRFCueZc"]}