2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Researches on the diversity of growing patterns in biological systems
| Project/Area Number |
11214205
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Review Section |
Science and Engineering
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| Research Institution | Chuo University |
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Principal Investigator |
MATSUSHITA Mitsugu Chuo University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Professor, 理工学部, 教授 (20091746)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KIMURA Masato Kyushu University, Mathematics Graduate Courses, Associate Professor, 大学院・数理学研究院, 助教授 (70263358)
MIMURA Masayasu Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Science, Professor, 大学院・理学研究科, 教授 (50068128)
KATORI Makoto Chuo University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Professor, 理工学部, 教授 (60202016)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2001
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| Keywords | Growing pattern / Pattern formation / Bacteria / Colony / Bacillus subtilis / Proteus mirabilis / Reaction-diffusion system / Concentric-ring Pattern |
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| Research Abstract |
Bacteria form characteristic and diverse colonies according to variation of environmental conditions such as nutrient concentration and substrate hardness. This implies that bacteria live actively by interacting collectively or multicellularly with their environment, instead of living unicellularly and passively. In order to elucidate this kind of collective behavior of biological organisms we have studied the growth mechanism and morphological change in colony formation of bacteria both microscopically and macroscopically. We have established morphological diagrams when varying both nutrient concentration and substrate softness. We have also elucidated the growth conditions and characteristics of various colony patterns for species Bacillus subtilis and Proteus mirabilis. Theoretically we have thoroughly investigated how well we can describe our experimental observations from the reaction-diffusion approach. All these results contribute not only to the study of colony formation of bacteria but also to the enlargement of experimental and theoretical studies on pattern formation of the population of biological organisms in general. The species Proteus mirabilis forms macroscopically almost perfect concentric-ring like colonies with approximately equal spacing by repeating collective migration and rest alternately. We have elucidated phenomenological mechanism for the repeated interface growth of the concentric-ring like colonies.
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