Coping with Noise in E. coli Chemotaxis

Abstract

In this work, we use theoretical tools to study the effects of noise on the ability of a cell to chemotax and, more specifically, how bacteria cope. We first use simulations to show that adaptation time (filter cutoff frequency) affects the chemotactic performance of the cell and that mere exists an optimal adaptation time that allows cells to chemotax tire furthest. Having shown that the adaptation time can make a difference to chemotactic efficiency we conjecture that this effect is predicated on the ability of the cell to estimate its environment accurately in the presence of noise.