Combining high-resolution single cell tracking experiments with numerical simulations, we show that starvation-induced fruiting body (FB) formation in Myxococcus xanthus is a phase separation driven by cells that tune their motility over time. The phase separation can be understood in terms of cell density and a dimensionless Peclet number that captures cell motility through speed and reversal frequency. Our work suggests that M. xanthus take advantage of a self-driven non-equilibrium phase transition that can be controlled at the single cell level.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1709.06012,
title = {A self-driven phase transition drives Myxococcus xanthus fruiting body formation},
author = {Guannan Liu and Adam Patch and Fatmagul Bahar and David Yllanes and Roy D. Welch and M. Cristina Marchetti and Shashi Thutupalli and Joshua W. Shaevitz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.06012},
year = {2019}
}