Collaborative Research: Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Interacting Bacterial Communities in Compact Colonies

合作研究：紧密菌落中相互作用的细菌群落的时空动态

• 批准号: 2029574
• 负责人: Bo Li
• 金额: $ 59.27万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2029574&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Spatiotemporal; Dynamics; Interacting

Bacteria are the simplest and most abundant living organisms on our planet, and often exist as complex microbial communities in otherwise homogeneous environment. This project proposes to address the question of how bacterial communities survive, expand, and maintain their diversity. The main goals of this project are to: (1) uncover rules that generate and maintain the complex biochemical and mechanical environment inside growing bacterial colonies, which serve as the fountain that breeds both genetic and ecological diversity; and (2) produce a set of well-tested mathematical models and computational tools for investigating the interplay between activities of individual cells and the collective bacterial behaviors at the community level. The PIs will engage in a number of activities aimed at development of the next generation workforce trained at the intersection of mathematical and biological sciences including the development of a new undergraduate major in mathematical biology at UCSD, development of courses in mathematical biology at UCSD and Bucknell and the training of undergraduate and graduate students in this interdisciplinary area at all 3 collaborating institutions. A series of public lectures on mathematical biology will also be arranged in California State University - Long Beach, a large public university with 43% Hispanic/Latino students.This project will use a combination of experimentation and multiscale modeling to address the spatiotemporal dynamics of growing compact bacterial colonies on the air-agar interface. Non-extracellular matrix producing bacteria will be used as a simplified experimental system to address the interrelationship of mechanical properties and metabolism on bacterial grown. Cross feeding between multiple bacterial species will be used to explore the impact of bacterial diversity on colony growth. A discrete-continuum 3D simulation model will be developed in this project that will be able to integrate mechanical and metabolic interactions as well as its couple treatment of individual cells and with a continuum description of environmental factors. The results of this project should shed light on the rules that govern bacterial grown and diversity. In addition, the proposed research provides many opportunities and challenges in new mathematical studies on topics ranging from nonlinear partial differential equations, interface dynamics, multiscale modeling, and high performance scientific computing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

细菌是地球上最简单、数量最多的生命体，通常以复杂的微生物群落形式存在于其他同质环境中。该项目旨在解决细菌群落如何生存、扩展和保持其多样性的问题。该项目的主要目标是：(1)揭示在生长的细菌菌落内部产生和维持复杂的生化和机械环境的规则，这些环境是孕育遗传和生态多样性的源泉；(2)建立一套经过验证的数学模型和计算工具，用于在群落水平上研究单个细胞活动与细菌集体行为之间的相互作用。这些pi将参与一系列活动，旨在培养数学和生物科学交叉领域的下一代劳动力，包括在加州大学圣地亚哥分校开设新的数学生物学本科专业，在加州大学圣地亚哥分校和巴克内尔大学开设数学生物学课程，以及在所有3个合作机构培训这一跨学科领域的本科生和研究生。加州州立大学长滩分校是一所拥有43%西班牙裔/拉丁裔学生的大型公立大学，将安排一系列关于数学生物学的公开讲座。本项目将使用实验和多尺度建模相结合的方法来解决在空气-琼脂界面上生长的紧凑细菌菌落的时空动态。非细胞外基质生成细菌将作为一个简化的实验系统来研究细菌生长过程中机械性能和代谢的相互关系。多种细菌之间的交叉饲养将用于探索细菌多样性对菌落生长的影响。该项目将开发一个离散连续体3D模拟模型，该模型将能够整合机械和代谢相互作用，以及其对单个细胞的耦合处理，并与环境因素的连续描述。这个项目的结果将揭示控制细菌生长和多样性的规则。此外，所提出的研究为非线性偏微分方程、界面动力学、多尺度建模和高性能科学计算等新的数学研究提供了许多机会和挑战。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。