(A) A model schematic based on an experimental understanding of aspartate utilization by the two cell types in the system. Dark and light cells are colored accordingly. Dark cells take in aspartate, budget it for nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) needs. Some of the accumulating C is released into the extracellular environment as trehalose, triggering the switching into light cells and also acting as the primary C source for light cells as it diffuses in the 2D space. On the right, we have a representative simulated colony generated from a default parameter set. Parameters are indicated in the parentheses. (B) Varying the fraction of aspartate flux allocated towards nitrogen (N) in order to observe the simulated colony over the same length of time. When the majority of the flux is used for carbon (C) needs, the simulated colonies resemble experimental colonies. If less aspartate is allocated for C rather than N, the developed colonies no longer resemble the experimental colonies. (C) Varying the relative rate of aspartate uptake compared to trehalose uptake by the light cells in order to observe simulated colonies over the same length of time. If the rate is the same, as shown in the first simulated colony where AspU = 1.0, the colony is underdeveloped. A middle value of AspU = 4.0 generates colonies similar to experimental colonies, while for a large value of AspU on the right, the dark cell blocks and light cell blocks have similar division times and the final colony is larger.