Bacterial chemotaxis in a microfluidic T-maze reveals strong phenotypic heterogeneity in chemotactic sensitivity
Bacterial chemotaxis in a microfluidic T-maze reveals strong phenotypic heterogeneity in chemotactic sensitivity
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DOI：
10.1038/s41467-019-09521-2
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发表时间：
2019-04-23
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Stocker, Roman
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Salek, M. Mehdi;Carrara, Francesco;Stocker, Roman
许多微生物已经进化出趋化策略来利用微生物栖息地的微尺度异质性。趋化性主要是作为一个群体的平均特征来研究的，很少考虑个体之间的差异。在这里，我们采用了动物生态学的经典工具——t迷宫——并在微观尺度上通过使用微流体将细菌暴露于一系列决定中来实现它，每个决定都由向上或向下的化学梯度组成。克隆大肠杆菌在迷宫中的单细胞观察，结合数学模型表明，即使在克隆细菌群体中，趋化敏感性系数也存在很强的异质性。对不同异质性的潜在来源的比较表明，t迷宫的异质性主要来自于趋化敏感性系数，这是由通路增益的分布引起的。这种异质性可能具有功能性作用，例如在迁移下注对冲策略的背景下。
Many microorganisms have evolved chemotactic strategies to exploit the microscale heterogeneity that frequently characterizes microbial habitats. Chemotaxis has been primarily studied as an average characteristic of a population, with little regard for variability among individuals. Here, we adopt a classic tool from animal ecology - the T-maze - and implement it at the microscale by using microfluidics to expose bacteria to a sequence of decisions, each consisting of migration up or down a chemical gradient. Single-cell observations of clonal Escherichia coli in the maze, coupled with a mathematical model, reveal that strong heterogeneity in the chemotactic sensitivity coefficient exists even within clonal populations of bacteria. A comparison of different potential sources of heterogeneity reveals that heterogeneity in the T-maze originates primarily from the chemotactic sensitivity coefficient, arising from a distribution of pathway gains. This heterogeneity may have a functional role, for example in the context of migratory bet-hedging strategies.