Spatial Organization of Biological Fuctions | BPS Thematic Meeting

Spatial Organization of Biological Functions Meeting

Thursday Speaker Abstracts

EMERGENT ORDER FROM CELLULAR DYNAMICS AT BACTERIAL SWARMING FRONTS Masatoshi Nishikawa 1 ; 1 Hosei University, Department of Frontier Bioscience, Koganei, Japan Bacterial swarming is a model system for studying collective cell migration, characterized by cells aligning their orientation to move coordinately. The marine bacterium Vibrio alginolyticus exhibits swarming behavior associated with cell elongation and production of numerous lateral flagella, enabling movement along its long axis on solid surfaces. Notably, V. alginolyticus cells exhibit flexible bending movements during surface migration, in contrast to the rigid, rod-like shape observed in many other swarming bacteria. We demonstrate that bending promotes directional changes, enabling cells to exhibit low-persistence trajectories and reorient perpendicularly at the leading edge, establishing nematic order essential for swarm expansion. Moreover, we found that fluctuations in the level of the active cytoplasmic motility regulator are critical for generating low-persistence motion and directional reorientation at the leading edge. These results highlight how stochastic fluctuations in intracellular signaling give rise to emergent nematic order in collective cell migration.

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