Spatially-resolved metabolic cooperativity within dense bacterial colonies
The exchange of metabolites and the reprogramming of metabolism in response to shifting microenvironmental conditions can drive subpopulations of cells within colonies toward divergent behaviors. Understanding the interactions of these subpopulationstheir potential for competition as well as cooperationrequires both a metabolic model capable of accounting for a wide range of environmental conditions, and a detailed dynamic description of the cells shared extracellular space.
metabolic cooperativity flux balance analysis reaction-diffusion modeling crossfeeding colony modeling