Bánsági, T. and Taylor, A.F. orcid.org/0000-0003-0071-8306 (2018) Switches induced by quorum sensing in a model of enzyme-loaded microparticles. Interface, 15 (140). ISSN 1742-5689
Abstract
Quorum sensing refers to the ability of bacteria and other single-celled organisms to respond to changes in cell density or number with population-wide changes in behaviour. Here, simulations were performed to investigate quorum sensing in groups of diffusively coupled enzyme microparticles using a well-characterized autocatalytic reaction which raises the pH of the medium: hydrolysis of urea by urease. The enzyme urease is found in both plants and microorganisms, and has been widely exploited in engineering processes. We demonstrate how increases in group size can be used to achieve a sigmoidal switch in pH at high enzyme loading, oscillations in pH at intermediate enzyme loading and a bistable, hysteretic switch at low enzyme loading. Thus, quorum sensing can be exploited to obtain different types of response in the same system, depending on the enzyme concentration. The implications for microorganisms in colonies are discussed, and the results could help in the design of synthetic quorum sensing for biotechnology applications such as drug delivery.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Interface. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | enzyme microparticles; feedback; oscillations; quorum sensing; switches |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Apr 2018 14:35 |
Last Modified: | 22 Jul 2020 09:23 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2017.0945 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society, The |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rsif.2017.0945 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:129491 |