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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2000, p. 385-393, Vol. 182, No. 2
Department of Bacteriology, Niigata
University School of Medicine, Niigata
951-8510,1 Faculty of Agriculture,
Niigata University, Niigata 950-2181,2 and
Department of Physics, Chuo University, Tokyo
112-8551,3 Japan
Received 12 August 1999/Accepted 29 October 1999
Proteus mirabilis forms a concentric-ring colony by
undergoing periodic swarming. A colony in the process of such
synchronized expansion was examined for its internal population
structure. In alternating phases, i.e., swarming (active migration) and
consolidation (growth without colony perimeter expansion),
phase-specific distribution of cells differing in length, in situ
mobility, and migration ability on an agar medium were recognized. In
the consolidation phase, the distribution of mobile cells was
restricted to the inner part of a new ring and a previous terrace.
Cells composing the outer part of the ring were immobile in spite of
their ordinary swimming ability in a viscous solution. A sectorial cell
population having such an internal structure was replica printed on
fresh agar medium. After printing, a transplant which was in the
swarming phase continued its ongoing swarming while a transplanted
consolidation front continued its scheduled consolidation. This shows
that cessation of migration during the consolidation phase was not due
to substances present in the underlying agar medium. The ongoing
swarming schedule was modifiable by separative cutting of the swarming
front or disruption of the ring pattern by random mixing of the
pattern-forming cell population. The structured cell population seemed
to play a role in characteristic colony growth. However, separation of a narrow consolidation front from a backward area did not induce disturbance in the ongoing swarming schedule. Thus, cells at the frontal part of consolidation area were independent of the internal cell population and destined to exert consolidation and swarming with
the ongoing ordinary schedule.
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Dynamic Aspects of the Structured Cell Population
in a Swarming Colony of Proteus mirabilis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Bacteriology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. Phone: 81 25 227 2111. Fax: 81 25 227 0762. E-mail:
tohey{at}med.niigata-u.ac.jp.
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