Fig. 2From: Bacterial social interactions drive the emergence of differential spatial colony structuresMechanical modeling of bacterial growth dynamics. a Representation of individual cells. Each cell is modeled as a growing rod surrounded by a deformable elastic shell. b Calculation of the mechanical forces between two contacting cells. The procedure includes finding the closest points between the cells, computing the overlap between the deformable spheres at the closest points, and then calculating the corresponding Hertzian force. c Snapshots of a representative simulation of two-species bacterial colony expansionBack to article page