Blue Light Is a Universal Signal for Escherichia coli Chemoreceptors

Abstract

Our findings provide new insights into the mechanism of E. coli phototaxis, showing that all five chemoreceptor types respond to light and their interactions play an important role in cell behavior. Our results also open up new avenues for examining and manipulating E. coli taxis. Since light is a universal stimulus, it may provide a way to quantify interactions among different types of receptors. Because light is easier to control spatially and temporally than chemicals, it may be used to study swimming behavior in complex environments. Since phototaxis can cause migration of E. coli bacteria in light gradients, light may be used to control bacterial density for studying density-dependent processes in bacteria.