Temporal Stimulation of Chemotaxis in Escherichia coli

We used the tracking microscope to study the chemotactic responses of E. coli to temporal gradients of L-glutamate generated in isotropic solutions by the action of the enzyme alanine aminotransferase. Positive gradients suppress directional changes which occur spontaneously in the absence of a stimulus. Negative gradients have little effect. The data can be fit with a model in which the suppression is proportional to the time rate of change of the fractional amount of chemoreceptor bound. The model accounts for the behavior of individual cells and populations of cells in spatial gradients. A computer simulation of the motion in spatial gradients indicates that if the bacteria have a “memory,” its decay time cannot be much longer than a few seconds. The relationship between the responses observed in these experiments and in experiments in which solutions of an attractant at different concentrations are mixed is discussed.