Heterocyst placement strategies to maximize the growth of cyanobacterial filaments

@article{Brown2012HeterocystPS,
  title={Heterocyst placement strategies to maximize the growth of cyanobacterial filaments},
  author={Aidan I. Brown and Andrew D. Rutenberg},
  journal={Physical Biology},
  year={2012},
  volume={9}
}
Under conditions of limited fixed-nitrogen, some filamentous cyanobacteria develop a regular pattern of heterocyst cells that fix nitrogen for the remaining vegetative cells. We examine three different heterocyst placement strategies by quantitatively modelling filament growth while varying both external fixed-nitrogen and leakage from the filament. We find that there is an optimum heterocyst frequency which maximizes the growth rate of the filament; the optimum frequency decreases as the… 
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7 Citations
Background Citations
3
Methods Citations
3

7 Citations

A storage-based model of heterocyst commitment and patterning in cyanobacteria
TLDR
It is proposed that fN storage is an important component of heterocyst commitment and patterning in filamentous cyanobacteria and an integrated computational model of fN transport, cellular growth, and heterocySt commitment for filamentous Cyanobacteria is presented.
Formation and maintenance of nitrogen-fixing cell patterns in filamentous cyanobacteria
TLDR
A theory that combines genetic, metabolic, and morphological aspects to understand this prokaryotic example of multicellularity, and finds that a purely stochastic initiation of the pattern, without a two-stage process, is enough to reproduce experimental observations.
The multicellular nature of filamentous heterocyst-forming cyanobacteria.
TLDR
Various aspects of multicellularity in cyanobacterial filaments and their differentiation are reviewed, including filament architecture with emphasis on the structures used for intercellular communication.
Growth Characteristics of an Estuarine Heterocystous Cyanobacterium
A new estuarine filamentous heterocystous cyanobacterium was isolated from intertidal sediment of the Lagoa dos Patos estuary (Brazil). The isolate may represent a new genus related to…
The evolution of mechanisms to produce phenotypic heterogeneity in microorganisms
TLDR
It is shown that coordinated specialisation is more likely to evolve over random specialisation in well-mixed groups when: (i) social groups are small; (ii) helping is more “essential”; and (iii) there is a low metabolic cost to coordination.
Fixed nitrogen dynamics and heterocyst patterning in filamentous heterocystous cyanobacteria
TLDR
The author states that the book was originally intended to be a collection of “short stories” but that “the stories began to take on a life of their own” after the second printing.
The evolution of mechanisms to divide labour in microorganisms 1
TLDR
It is shown that fully coordinated specialisation is more likely to evolve over random specialisation in well-mixed groups when: (i) social groups are small; (ii) cooperation has a greater relative impact on fitness; and (iii) there is a relatively low metabolic cost to coordination.

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