Parametric studies of metabolic cooperativity in Escherichia coli colonies: Strain and geometric confinement effects
Fig 6
Geometry dependence of crossfeeding.
Snapshots of each of colonies after 35 hours of growth in six different geometries showing the drastic difference in growth rate and acetate cross-feeding caused by agar geometry. Each image shows acetate concentration (left) and volume fraction of acetate utilizing cells (right). The acetate utilizing fraction are cells that have transitioned into the phenotypic state where they can catabolize acetate; while these cellsaare not necessarily consumping acetate, they have the capacity to do so. In general, about between 45 and 76% of these cells are consuming acetate and are doing so at the maximum uptake rate.