Self-organized traveling waves in a synthetic multicellular reaction-diffusion system

Abstract

Synthetic gene circuits provide experimentally tractable systems for dissecting how genetic feedback and diffusible signals generate multicellular patterns. However, building multi-component circuits whose behavior can be quantitatively linked to module-level measurements, diffusion, and spatial boundary conditions remains challenging. Here, we designed and engineered a bacterial patterning system in which positive feedback, delayed negative feedback, and two orthogonal quorum-sensing signals are integrated in Escherichia coli. We first implemented and characterized the feedback modules separately, measured the effective diffusion of the signals in the experimental setup, and used these data to parameterize a mathematical model. In quasi-2D bacterial lawns, the complete circuit generated self-organized spatiotemporal dynamics consisting of an sfGFP activation front followed by successive mCherry propagating pulses/traveling waves. Model-guided perturbations showed that lawn size, lawn position relative to the domain boundary, and signal degradation modulate the timing, amplitude, wavelength, and directionality of these patterns. Our work establishes a modular synthetic multicellular reaction-diffusion system in which circuit architecture, signal diffusion, and boundary-mediated signal exchange can be experimentally connected to emergent patterning dynamics.