NSF2026: EAGER: Emergent Collective Behavior in a Developmental Model

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With support from the Division of Environmental Biology (BIO/DEB) and the NSF 2026 Fund Program in the Office of Integrated Activities, Professor Alison Patteson of Syracuse University is awarded this EAGER grant. This project addresses the NSF 2026 Idea Machine topic of Emergence of Complexity from the Bottom Up, focusing on a subfield of the biological sciences. The overarching goal of this project is to identify the underlying principles governing emergent collective behavior in the model bacteria Myxococcus xanthus. Bacteria are often thought of as single celled, but many species act as multi-celled groups. Behaviors such as aggregation, swarming, and predation require cells to coordinate their actions. We know that the capacity for these behaviors is genetically controlled, but it is not yet possible to understand the resulting patterns from genetics alone. Cells rely on complex signaling pathways to sense, integrate, and respond to a variety of signals from other cells and from environmental cues to coordinate their behaviors. This project will produce a publicly available video archive of swarming behaviors in genetically distinct bacteria. This will provide a unique resource for developing models of emergent collective action and provide insights into the evolution of multicellularity.This project employs two approaches. The first is to assemble a large video database of collective fruiting body aggregation in wild-type and mutant strains using a high-throughput video microscope. The second approach is to develop and extend self-propelled particle models of Myxococcus xanthus aggregation based on the effects of genetic knockdown on the resultant collective behavior. Identifying how bacteria self-organize from interacting signaling networks would be a significant step forward in understanding emergence in living materials.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.