Self-Driven Phase Transitions Drive Myxococcus xanthus Fruiting Body Formation. Author Guannan Liu, Adam Patch, Fatmagül Bahar, David Yllanes, Roy Welch, M Cristina Marchetti, Shashi Thutupalli, Joshua Shaevitz Publication Year 2019 Type Journal Article Abstract Combining high-resolution single cell tracking experiments with numerical simulations, we show that starvation-induced fruiting body formation in Myxococcus xanthus is a phase separation driven by cells that tune their motility over time. The phase separation can be understood in terms of cell density and a dimensionless Péclet number that captures cell motility through speed and reversal frequency. Our work suggests that M. xanthus takes advantage of a self-driven nonequilibrium phase transition that can be controlled at the single cell level. Keywords Cell Movement, Phase Transition, Myxococcus xanthus Journal Phys Rev Lett Volume 122 Issue 24 Pages 248102 Date Published 2019 Jun 21 ISSN Number 1079-7114 DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.248102 Alternate Journal Phys Rev Lett PMID 31322369 PubMedGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML