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Modeling the role of the cell cycle in regulating Proteus mirabilis swarm-colony development
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Modeling the role of the cell cycle in regulating Proteus mirabilis swarm-colony development

Bruce P Ayati
Applied mathematics letters, Vol.20(8), pp.913-918
2007
DOI: 10.1016/j.aml.2006.11.003
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aml.2006.11.003View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

We present models and computational results which indicate that the spatial and temporal regularity seen in Proteus mirabilis swarm-colony development is largely an expression of a specific, nearly precise age of dedifferentiation in the cell cycle from motile swarmer cells to immotile dividing cells. This contrasts strongly with reaction–diffusion models of Proteus behavior that ignore or average out the age structure of the cell population and instead use only density-dependent mechanisms. We argue the necessity of retaining this known biological feature using explicit age structure in the model, and suggest that certain experiments may validate this underlying mechanism empirically.
Swarm colony Degenerate diffusion Proteus mirabilis Age structure Cell cycle

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