Team:Pittsburgh/Model

We focused on modeling the chemotactic response of E. coli and the effects photoswitchable Dronpa has on bacterial motility. When wild type E. coli are exposed to a chemical repellant, the main chemotaxis protein CheY will become phosphorylated by the autophosphorylated CheA. Next, the now phosphorylated CheY, (CheY~P) will be able to bind with high affinity to FliM, one of the proteins in the flagellar motor. This interaction between CheY~P and FliM is one of the main determinants behind the swimming versus tumbling behavior in bacteria.

We wanted to investigate this system because it is possible to compare the modeling results with experimental data obtained through microscopy videos. In addition, since the chemotaxis system has many aspects such as the reaction rates of kinase activity that we may not have considered, the model can give us more insight on potential research areas. Because our model is clearly based on certain rules that govern the interaction between the different chemotaxis proteins, we are able to use Rule Based Modeling.>