Social Dynamics, Signaling, and Surface Motility in Cyanobacteria: Integrating Models and Experiments

微生物生活在资源严重有限的环境中，或在其中重要的输入，如光和营养波动不可预测的环境中。 因此，它们对环境线索的感知和快速反应能力是经过精细调节和良好进化的。我们特别感兴趣的是光合微生物的精致能力，如蓝藻，在一个称为趋光性的过程中感知和响应光线。 基于我们的初步研究，我们假设，蓝藻在空间和时间的运动是一个复杂的相互作用的结果之间的特性，一个单独的细菌和社会动态的殖民地。我们的目的是（1）实验监测集胞藻的表面依赖运动的定义，生物学相关的条件下。 (2)推导、研究和测试将与新的生物学数据相结合的数学模型。 (3)利用趋光性突变体在生物学相关问题的背景下扩展和完善数学模型。该项目涉及有关细胞运动和社会行为的基本生物学问题。 成功完成拟议的活动将阐明单细胞如何感知光信号以及沟通对导致群体运动的社会行为的重要性。 该项目的目的是作为一个真正的跨学科的努力，以处理一个复杂的现象。 它扩展了研究人员将数学和生物学结合在一起的工作的有希望的初步结果。 一个相当大的智力努力是嵌入在设计的数学研究方向，将提供答案，是相关的解决生物学问题。该项目可能对其他领域的基本生物学问题产生直接影响。混合细菌群落和表面依赖性运动的广泛重要性在病原体生物学领域以及环境微生物生态学中变得越来越明显。 直接解决群体动力学的数学模型可能与其他问题非常相关：生物学（如蚁群行为建模）和非生物学（如经济学和社交网络模型中的群体行为）。 该项目包括一个实质性的教育部分，反映了对各级教育（本科、研究生和研究生教育）的持续承诺。 特别关注的是外展活动，少数民族，并制定方案，促进和鼓励在生物学和数学领域的培训。

Microorganisms live in environments that are often severely limited in resources or in which vital inputs such as light and nutrients fluctuate unpredictably. Thus, their ability to sense and respond quickly to environmental cues is finely regulated and well-evolved. We are particularly interested in the exquisite ability of photosynthetic microorganisms, like cyanobacteria, to sense and respond to light, in a process called phototaxis. Based on our preliminary studies, we hypothesize that the motility of cyanobacteria in space and time is a result of an intricate interplay between the characteristics of an individual bacterium and the social dynamics of the colony. We aim (1) To experimentally monitor surface dependent motility of Synechocystis sp. under defined, biologically relevant conditions. (2) To derive, study, and test mathematical models that will be integrated with the new biological data. (3) To use phototaxis mutants to extend and refine mathematical models in the context of biologically relevant questions. This project deals with fundamental biological questions about cell motility and social behavior. A successful completion of the proposed activities will shed light on how single cells perceive light signals and the importance of communication for social behaviors that lead to group movement. The project is designed as a truly interdisciplinary effort to deal with a complex phenomenon. It extends the promising preliminary results of the work of the investigators bringing together math and biology. A considerable intellectual effort is embedded in designing the mathematical research directions that will provide answers that are relevant to solving biological problems. This project potentially has a direct impact on fundamental biological questions in other fields. The widespread importance of mixed bacterial communities and surface dependent motility is becoming increasingly apparent in the field of pathogen biology as well as in environmental microbial ecology. Mathematical models that directly address group dynamics could be potentially very relevant to other problems: biological (such as modeling the behavior of ant colonies), and non-biological (such as crowds behavior in models in economics and social networks). The project includes a substantial educational component that reflects an ongoing commitment to education on all levels (undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate education). Special attention is given to outreach activities, minorities, and to developing programs that foster and encourage training in the fields of biology and mathematics.