A new modeling approach of myxococcus xanthus bacteria using polarity-based reversals

The aim of this paper is to model the collective behavior of Myxococcus xanthus bacteria to better understand the emerging patterns at the level of the colony. We use image analysis and data treatment on experimental data of Myxococcus xanthus bacteria as a starting point to build two models whose main novelty is the polarity-based reversals. The first model is based on contact dynamics approach and the second one follows a molecular dynamics approach. We compare the two cell-cell models and support each one with numerical simulations in 2D. The mathematical and biological aspects of each model are then discussed.