A cybernetic view of microbial growth: modeling of cells as optimal strategists.

A cybernetic framework is presented which views microbial response in multiple substrate environments as a judicious investment of cellular resources in synthesizing different key proteins according to an optimal regulatory strategy. A mathematical model is developed within the cybernetic framework for the diauxic growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae on a mixture of D-glucose and D-xylose. The "bang-bang" optimal policy describes well the experimental observations obtained using a fermenter coupled to an Apple II microcomputer. Striking variations in respiratory levels are observed experimentally during the switching of the cell's adaptive machinery for the utilization of the less preferred substrate.