# Cell-to-Cell Variability in Chemotactic Signal Integration

> **NIH NIH F31** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $46,036

## Abstract

Project Summary
Cell-to-cell variability in gene expression and stochasticity in biochemical reactions allow a
single genotype to generate many different phenotypes. This non-genetic diversity has relevant
medical implications since it leads to antibiotic persistence in pathogenic bacteria and may
enhance virulence behaviors. Thus, understanding the role of cell-to-cell variability in the
behavior of microbial populations is of critical clinical importance. The proposed work will
determine how bacterial populations utilize cell-to-cell variability to process complex
environmental signals. Specifically, we will learn how the adaptation machinery of the highly
conserved bacterial chemotaxis network allows populations to modulate cell-to-cell variability in
sensitivity to different stimuli when background signals are present. Then, we will learn how
preferential detection of different chemoeffectors varies in bacterial populations, and whether
populations divide signaling labor to detect and respond to stimulus mixtures. These questions
will be answered using a novel microfluidic device developed in our lab which can apply fast-
switching stimuli to cell populations. Responses to chemotactic stimuli will be determined with a
well-established FRET reporter system which was recently further developed for use in single-
cell measurements. With our extensive quantitative expertise, we will use our measurements to
constrain a mathematical model of how cell-to-cell variability affects signal processing by
populations, and how diverse populations process signals differently from single cells.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10313078
- **Project number:** 1F31AI164817-01
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeremy Philippe Moore
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $46,036
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-12-17 → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10313078

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10313078, Cell-to-Cell Variability in Chemotactic Signal Integration (1F31AI164817-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-02 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10313078. Licensed CC0.

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