Session F39: Cell Motility: From Single Cell to Collective Dynamics II

Effects of physical factors on the swarming motility of text it{Pseudomonas aeruginosa}

Many species of bacteria can spread over a semi-solid surface via a particular form of collective motion known as surface swarming. Using \textit{Pseudomonas aeruginosa} as a model organism, we investigate physical factors that either facilitate or restrict the swarming motility. The semi-solid surface is typically formed by 0.5-1\% agar containing essential nutrients for the bacterial growth and proliferation. Most bacterial species, including \textit{P. aeruginosa}, synthesize bio-surfactants to aid in swarming. We found addition of exogenous surfactants such as triton into the agar matrix enhances the swarming. In contrast, increasing agar percentage, infusing osmolites, and adding viscous agents all decrease swarming. We propose that the swarming speed is restricted by the rate of water supply from within the agar gel and by the line tension at the swarm front involving three materials in contact: the air, the bacteria propelled liquid film, and the agar substrate.   

Quantifying Spatiotemporal Patterns in the Advancing Front of Twitching Bacterial Colonies

Type IV pili (T4P) are very thin (5-8 nm in diameter) protein filaments that can be extended and retracted by certain classes of Gram-negative bacteria including \textit{P. aeruginosa} [1]. These bacteria use T4P to move across viscous interfaces, referred to twitching motility. Twitching can occur for isolated cells or in a collective manner [2]. Using a custom-built, temperature and humidity controlled environmental chamber, together with particle image velocimetry and Fourier analysis techniques, we characterized the evolution of the advancing front of expanding colonies. We find that the advancing front consists of finger-like protrusions consisting of many bacteria, with the cells within the expanding colony arranged in a lattice-like pattern. We have characterized the average speed, width and bacterial orientation within the fingers as a function of agar concentration/stiffness. In addition, we have analyzed the motion of individual cells within the fingers at high spatial and temporal resolution. [1] Burrows, L.L. (2012) Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 66: 493–520. [2] Semmler, A.B., Whitchurch, C.B., Mattick, J.S. (1999) Microbiology 145: 2863-2873.   

Evolutionary aspects of collective motility in pathogenic bacteria.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pathogenic bacteria that can use its single polar flagellum to swim through liquids. It can move collectively over semisolid surfaces, a behavior called swarming. It can also settle and form surface-attached communities called biofilms that protect them from antibiotics. The transition from single motility (swimming) to collective motility (swarming) is biologically relevant as it enables exploring environments that a single bacterium cannot explore on its own. It is also clinically relevant since swarming and biofilm formation are thought to be antagonistic. We investigate the mechanisms of bacterial collective motility using a multidisciplinary approach that combines mathematical modeling, quantitative experiments, and microbial genetics. We aim to identify how these mechanisms may evolve under the selective pressure of population expansion, and consequently reinforce or hinder collective motility. In particular, we clarify the role of growth rate and motility in invasive populations.   

Self-organized, near-critical behavior during aggregation in Dictyostelium discoideum

During starvation, the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum aggregates artfully via pattern formation into a multicellular slug and finally spores. The aggregation process is mediated by the secretion and sensing of cyclic adenosine monophosphate, leading to the synchronized movement of cells. The whole process is a remarkable example of collective behavior, spontaneously emerging from single-cell chemotaxis. Despite this phenomenon being broadly studied, a precise characterization of the transition from single cells to multicellularity has been elusive. Here, using fluorescence imaging data of thousands of cells, we investigate the role of cell shape in aggregation, demonstrating remarkable transitions in cell behavior. To better understand their functional role, we analyze cell-cell correlations and provide evidence for self-organization at the onset of aggregation (as opposed to leader cells), with features of criticality in this finite system. To capture the mechanism of self-organization, we extend a detailed single-cell model of D.discoideum chemotaxis by adding cell-cell communication. We then use these results to extract a minimal set of rules leading to aggregation in the population model. If universal, similar rules may explain other types of collective cell behavior.   

Asymmetric Nano/Microtopography Biases Cytoskeletal Dynamics and Promotes Unidirectional Cell Guidance

Many biological and physiological processes depend upon directed migration of cells, which is typically mediated by chemical or physical gradients or by signal relay. Here we show that cells can be guided in a single preferred direction based solely on local asymmetries in nano/microtopography on subcellular scales. These asymmetries can be repeated, and thereby provide directional guidance, over arbitrarily large areas. The direction and strength of the guidance is sensitive to the details of the nano/microtopography, suggesting that this phenomenon plays a context-dependent role in vivo. We demonstrate that asymmetric nano/microtopography guides the direction of internal actin polymerization waves (esotaxis), and that cells move in the same direction as these waves (microthigmotaxis). This phenomenon is observed both for the pseudopod-dominated migration of the amoeboid Dictyostelium discoideum and for the lamellipod-driven migration of human neutrophils. The conservation of this mechanism across cell types and the asymmetric shape of many natural scaffolds suggests that actin-wave-based guidance is important in biology and physiology.   

Limits to Chemically Guided Multicellular Migration

Collective cell migration in response to a chemical cue requires both multicellular sensing of chemical gradients and coordinated mechanical action. Examples from morphogenesis and cancer metastasis demonstrate that clusters of migratory cells are extremely sensitive, responding to gradients of less than 1\% difference in chemical concentration across a cell body. While the limits to multicellular sensing are becoming known, the ensuing consequences for coherent migration remain poorly understood. We develop a model of multicellular sensing and migration based on the cellular Potts model. Multicellular sensing of noisy chemical gradients is modeled as a process of local excitation and global inhibition (LEGI) among communicating cells. The output of the sensing process is coupled to individual cells’ polarization to model migratory behavior. We find that larger clusters of cells detect the gradient direction with higher precision and thus achieve stronger polarization bias. At the same time, larger clusters are also accompanied by less coherent collective motion. The trade-off between these two effects leads to an optimally efficient cluster size. We discuss how our results relate to cancer metastasis.   

Chemotaxis and ~Actin Oscillations

Recently, self-oscillations of the cytoskeletal actin have been observed in Dictyostelium, a model system for studying chemotaxis. Here we report experimental results on the self-oscillation mechanism and the role of regulatory proteins and myosin II. We stimulate cells rapidly and periodically by using photo un-caging of the chemoattractant in a micro-fluidic device and measured the cellular responses. ~We found that the response amplitude grows with stimulation strength only in a very narrow region of stimulation, after which the response amplitude reaches a plateau. Moreover, the frequency-response is not constant but rather varies with the strength of external stimuli. To understand the underlying mechanism, we analyzed the polymerization and de-polymerization time in the single cell level. Despite of the large cell-to-cell variability, we found that the polymerization time is independent of external stimuli and the de-polymerization time is prolonged as the stimulation strength increases. Our conclusions will be summarized and the role of noise in the signaling network will be discussed. ~   

Nanotopography guides and directs cell migration in amoeboid and epithelial cells

Cell migration plays a critical role in development, angiogenesis, immune response, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. In many cases, cells also move in the context of a matrix of collagen fibers, and the alignment of these fibers can both affect the migration phenotype and guide cells. Here we show that both fast and slow migrating cells -- amoeboid HL-60 and epithelial MCF10A -- are affected in similar ways by micro/nanostructures with dimensions similar to those of collagen fibers. Cell alignment enhances the efficiency of migration by increasing directional persistence.   

Flow-driven waves and sink-driven oscillations during aggregation of Dictyostelium discoideum

The slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum (D.d) is a well-known model system for the study of biological pattern formation. Under starvation, D.d. cells aggregate chemotactically towards cAMP signals emitted periodically from an aggregation center. In the natural environment, D.d cells may experience fluid flows that can profoundly change the underlying wave generation process. We investigate spatial-temporal dynamics of a uniformly distributed population of D.d. cells in a flow-through narrow microfluidic channel with a cell-free inlet area. We show that flow can significantly influence the dynamics of the system and lead to a flow- driven instability that initiate downstream traveling cAMP waves. We also show that cell-free boundary regions have a significant effect on the observed patterns and can lead to a new kind of instability. Since there are no cells in the inlet to produce cAMP, the points in the vicinity of the inlet lose cAMP due to advection or diffusion and gain only a little from the upstream of the channel (inlet). In other words, there is a large negative flux of cAMP in the neighborhood close to the inlet, which can be considered as a sink. This negative flux close to the inlet drives a new kind of instability called sink-driven oscillations.   

Texture sensing of cytoskeletal dynamics in cell migration

Migrating cells can be directed towards a target by gradients in properties such as chemical concentration or mechanical properties of the surrounding microenvironment. In previous studies we have shown that micro/nanotopographical features on scales comparable to those of natural collagen fibers can guide fast migrating amoeboid cells by aligning actin polymerization waves to such nanostructures. We find that actin microfilaments and microtubules are aligned along the nanoridge topographies, modulating overall cell polarity and directional migration in epithelial cells. This work shows that topographic features on a biologically relevant length scale can modulate migration outcomes by affecting the texture sensing property of the cytoskeleton.   

Influence of electric field on cellular migration

Cells have the ability to detect continuous current electric fields (EFs) and respond to them with a directed migratory movement. Dictyostelium discoideum (D.d.) cells, a key model organism for the study of eukaryotic chemotaxis, orient and migrate toward the cathode under the influence of an EF. The underlying sensing mechanism and whether it is shared by the chemotactic response pathway remains unknown. Whereas genes and proteins that mediate the electric sensing as well as that define the migration direction have been previously investigated in D.d. cells, a deeper knowledge about the cellular kinematic effects caused by the EF is still lacking. Here we show that besides triggering a directional bias the electric field influences the cellular kinematics by accelerating the movement of cells along their path. We found that the migratory velocity of the cells in an EF increases linearly with the exposure time. Through the analysis of the PI3K and Phg2 distribution in the cytosol and of the cellular adherence to the substrate we aim at elucidating whereas this speed up effect in the electric field is due to either a molecular signalling or the interaction with the substrate.