Long-range temporal coordination of gene expression in synthetic microbial consortia

Abstract

Synthetic microbial consortia have an advantage over isogenic synthetic microbes because they can apportion biochemical and regulatory tasks among the strains. However, it is difficult to coordinate gene expression in spatially extended consortia because the range of signaling molecules is limited by diffusion. Here, we show that spatio-temporal coordination of gene expression can be achieved even when the spatial extent of the consortium is much greater than the diffusion distance of the signaling molecules. To do this, we examined the dynamics of a two-strain synthetic microbial consortium that generates coherent oscillations in small colonies. In large colonies, we find that temporally coordinated oscillations across the population depend on the presence of an intrinsic positive feedback loop that amplifies and propagates intercellular signals. These results demonstrate that synthetic multicellular systems can be engineered to exhibit coordinated gene expression using only transient, short-range coupling among constituent cells.