Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthus
Adjusting motility patterns according to environmental cues is important for bacterial survival. Myxococcus xanthus, a bacterium moving on surfaces by gliding and twitching mechanisms, modulates the reversal frequency of its front-back polarity in response to mechanical cues like substrate stiffness...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1294631/full |
| _version_ | 1827387109552422912 |
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| author | Yirui Chen Yirui Chen Elias J. Topo Beiyan Nan Jing Chen Jing Chen Jing Chen |
| author_facet | Yirui Chen Yirui Chen Elias J. Topo Beiyan Nan Jing Chen Jing Chen Jing Chen |
| author_sort | Yirui Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Adjusting motility patterns according to environmental cues is important for bacterial survival. Myxococcus xanthus, a bacterium moving on surfaces by gliding and twitching mechanisms, modulates the reversal frequency of its front-back polarity in response to mechanical cues like substrate stiffness and cell-cell contact. In this study, we propose that M. xanthus’s gliding machinery senses environmental mechanical cues during force generation and modulates cell reversal accordingly. To examine our hypothesis, we expand an existing mathematical model for periodic polarity reversal in M. xanthus, incorporating the experimental data on the intracellular dynamics of the gliding machinery and the interaction between the gliding machinery and a key polarity regulator. The model successfully reproduces the dependence of cell reversal frequency on substrate stiffness observed in M. xanthus gliding. We further propose reversal control networks between the gliding and twitching motility machineries to explain the opposite reversal responses observed in wild type M. xanthus cells that possess both motility mechanisms. These results provide testable predictions for future experimental investigations. In conclusion, our model suggests that the gliding machinery in M. xanthus can function as a mechanosensor, which transduces mechanical cues into a cell reversal signal. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:56:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0600e8dd81514a1e9b3ffd75c7fb50bf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:56:09Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-0600e8dd81514a1e9b3ffd75c7fb50bf2024-01-08T20:16:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2024-01-011410.3389/fmicb.2023.12946311294631Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthusYirui Chen0Yirui Chen1Elias J. Topo2Beiyan Nan3Jing Chen4Jing Chen5Jing Chen6Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesGenetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Graduate Program, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesFralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesCenter for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesAdjusting motility patterns according to environmental cues is important for bacterial survival. Myxococcus xanthus, a bacterium moving on surfaces by gliding and twitching mechanisms, modulates the reversal frequency of its front-back polarity in response to mechanical cues like substrate stiffness and cell-cell contact. In this study, we propose that M. xanthus’s gliding machinery senses environmental mechanical cues during force generation and modulates cell reversal accordingly. To examine our hypothesis, we expand an existing mathematical model for periodic polarity reversal in M. xanthus, incorporating the experimental data on the intracellular dynamics of the gliding machinery and the interaction between the gliding machinery and a key polarity regulator. The model successfully reproduces the dependence of cell reversal frequency on substrate stiffness observed in M. xanthus gliding. We further propose reversal control networks between the gliding and twitching motility machineries to explain the opposite reversal responses observed in wild type M. xanthus cells that possess both motility mechanisms. These results provide testable predictions for future experimental investigations. In conclusion, our model suggests that the gliding machinery in M. xanthus can function as a mechanosensor, which transduces mechanical cues into a cell reversal signal.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1294631/fullmechanosensingbacterial motilitygliding motilitypolarity regulationmyxobacteriamathematical modeling |
| spellingShingle | Yirui Chen Yirui Chen Elias J. Topo Beiyan Nan Jing Chen Jing Chen Jing Chen Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthus Frontiers in Microbiology mechanosensing bacterial motility gliding motility polarity regulation myxobacteria mathematical modeling |
| title | Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthus |
| title_full | Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthus |
| title_fullStr | Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthus |
| title_short | Mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in Myxococcus xanthus |
| title_sort | mathematical modeling of mechanosensitive reversal control in myxococcus xanthus |
| topic | mechanosensing bacterial motility gliding motility polarity regulation myxobacteria mathematical modeling |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1294631/full |
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