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Journal of Physical Studies 19(1/2), Article 1801 [9 pages] (2015)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30970/jps.19.1801 THE MODELING OF BACTERIAL CHEMOTAXIS IN A ONE-DIMENSIONAL SYSTEMA. N. Vasilev, D. E. Sakovich
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv |
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We propose a model that describes the bacterial chemotaxis in a one-dimensional system. In this model we account the interaction of the bacterial colony with an attractant through the mechanism of its absorption by bacteria. So, the redistribution of an attractant in the system is caused by diffusion and absorption. The absorption in its turn depends on bacteria distribution which is determined by the distribution of an attractant. As a result, there is a sequence of nonlinear interactions in the system. It is important that all these processes also depend on the regime of the attractant's injection into the system. The regime is modulated by means of boundary conditions. Namely, we consider the situation when the ratio of the attractant's concentrations at the boundaries is fixed, when the flow of attractant through the boundary is absent, and when the difference of attractant concentrations at the boundaries is constant. In all these cases we investigate the chemotaxis sensitivity function which characterizes inhomogeneity of bacterial distribution in the system. To do that we solve numerically nonlinear differential equation and find both the distribution of an attractant and bacteria. Basing on these distributions we calculate the chemotaxis sensitivity function. In particular, we study how it depends on the concentration of an attractant at the boundary of the system. It is shown that depending on the boundary regime this function may have one or two peaks. The first peak is caused by the process of the bacteria receptors' saturation. The second peak may appear due to the saturation of absorption intensity. We also analyze a certain dependence of the chemotaxis sensitivity function on the parameters of the model. The results that have been received could be useful for understanding experimental data on chemotaxis in different systems.
PACS number(s): 89.75.Fb, 87.10.+e, 87.16.Xa