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Cellular memory in bacteria and its influence on future generations

COFFEE_KLATCH · Invited

Abstract

We study how the cellular memory influences cellular properties and restrict heterogeneity in future generations. Heterogeneity in physical and functional characteristics of cells proliferates within a population due to stochasticity in intracellular biochemical processes and in the distribution of resources during divisions. It is limited, however, in part by the inheritance of cellular components between consecutive generations. In this talk I will present our new study in which, we characterize the dynamics of (non-genetic) inheritance in the simple bacterial model organism E. coli, and reveal how it contributes to regulating the various cellular properties (size, growth rate, etc.) in future generations. This is achieved using a novel microfluidic device that enables us to measure how two sister cells become different from each other over time. Our measurements provide the inheritance dynamics of different cellular properties, and the ‘inertia’ of cells to maintain these properties along time, i.e. cellular memory. We find that cellular memory is property specific and can last up to ∼10 generations. Our results can uncover mechanisms of non-genetic inheritance in bacteria and help develop quantitative description of cell progression and variation over time.

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Authors

  • Hanna Salman

    University of Pittsburgh

  • Blakesley Burkhart

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, None, University of Colorado Boulder, Virginia Tech, MIT Haystack Observatory, University of Alabama, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland College Park, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Rutgers University, Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, New Jersey Inst of Tech, Flatiron Institute, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Los Alamos National Laboratory, The College of William \& Mary, Cornell University, Cornell University, California Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Tech, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Princeton University, University of Pittsburgh, DEVCOM Army Research Lab, University of Louisville, University of Cape Town, Rutgers University/Flatiron Institute, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Australian National University, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

  • Blakesley Burkhart

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, None, University of Colorado Boulder, Virginia Tech, MIT Haystack Observatory, University of Alabama, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland College Park, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Rutgers University, Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, New Jersey Inst of Tech, Flatiron Institute, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Los Alamos National Laboratory, The College of William \& Mary, Cornell University, Cornell University, California Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Tech, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Princeton University, University of Pittsburgh, DEVCOM Army Research Lab, University of Louisville, University of Cape Town, Rutgers University/Flatiron Institute, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Australian National University, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey