One of the goals of the landscape program in string theory is to extract information about the space of string vacua in the form of statistical correlations between phenomenological features that are otherwise uncorrelated in field theory. Such correlations would thus represent predictions of string theory that hold independently of a vacuum-selection principle. In this paper, we study statistical correlations between two features which are likely to be central to any potential description of nature at high energy scales: gauge symmetries and spacetime supersymmetry. We analyze correlations between these two kinds of symmetry within the context of perturbative heterotic string vacua, and find a number of striking features. We find, for example, that the degree of spacetime supersymmetry is strongly correlated with the probabilities of realizing certain gauge groups, with unbroken supersymmetry at the string scale tending to favor gauge-group factors with larger rank. We also find that nearly half of the heterotic landscape is non-supersymmetric and yet tachyon-free at tree level; indeed, less than a quarter of the tree-level heterotic landscape exhibits any supersymmetry at all at the string scale. *

Motile bacteria often have to pass through small tortuous pores in soil or tissue of higher organisms. However, their motion in this prevalent type of niche is not fully understood. Here, we modeled it with narrow glass capillaries and identified a critical radius (Rc) for bacterial motion. Near the surface of capillaries narrower than that, the swimming trajectories are helices. In larger capillaries, they swim in distorted circles. Under non-slip condition, the peritrichous Escherichia coli swam in left-handed helices with an Rc of ~10 μm near glass surface. However, slipping could occur in the fast monotrichous Pseudomonas fluorescens, when a speed threshold was exceeded, and thus both left-handed and right-handed helices were executed in glass capillaries. In the natural non-cylindrical pores, the near-surface trajectories would be spirals and twisted loops. Engaging in such motions reduces the bacterial migration rate. With a given pore size, the run length and the tumbling angle of the bacterium determine the probability and duration of their near-surface motion. Shear flow and chemotaxis potentially enhance it. Based on this observation, the puzzling previous observations on bacterial migration in porous environments can be interpreted.

Recent in vivo experiments suggest that in the bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, the cue for the localization of the small sporulation protein, SpoVM, an essential factor in spore coat formation, is curvature of the bacterial plasma membrane. In vitro measurements of SpoVM adsorption to vesicles of varying sizes also find high sensitivity of adsorption to vesicle radius. This curvature-dependent adsorption is puzzling given the orders of magnitude difference in length scale between an individual protein and the radius of curvature of the cell or vesicle, suggesting protein clustering on the membrane. Here we develop a minimal model to study the relationship between curvature-dependent membrane adsorption and clustering of SpoVM. Based on our analysis, we hypothesize that the radius dependence of SpoVM adsorption observed in vitro is governed primarily by membrane tension, while for in-vivo localization of SpoVM, we propose a highly sensitive mechanism for curvature sensing based on the formation of macroscopic protein clusters on the membrane.

The actin cytoskeleton in living cells exhibits a high degree of capacity for dynamic self-organization. Recent experiments have observed propagating actin waves in Dictyostelium cells recovering from complete depolymerization of their actin cytoskeleton. The propagation of these waves appear to be dependent on a programmed recruitment of a few proteins that control actin assembly and disassembly. Such waves also arise spontaneously along the plasma membrane of the cell, and it has been suggested that actin waves enable the cell to scan a surface for particles to engulf. Based on known molecular components involved in wave propagation, we present and study a minimal reaction-diffusion model for actin wave production observed in recovering cells.

Living cells respond to spatially confined signals. Intracellular signal transmission often involves the release of second messengers like Ca 2+ . They will eventually trigger a physiological response, for example, by activating kinases that in turn activate target proteins through phosphorylation. Here, we investigate theoretically how positional information can be accurately read out by protein phosphorylation in spite of rapid second messenger diffusion. We find that accuracy is increased by binding of the kinases to the cell membrane prior to phosphorylation and by increasing the rate of Ca 2+ loss from the cell interior. These findings could explain some salient features of conventional protein kinases C.