  Yeasts exist in communities that expand over space and time to form complex
structures and patterns. We developed a computational lattice-based framework
to perform spatial-temporal simulations of budding yeast colonies exposed to
different nutrient and magnetic field conditions. The budding patterns of
haploid and diploid yeast cells were incorporated into the framework, as well
as the filamentous growth that occurs in yeast colonies under nutrient limiting
conditions. Simulation of the lattice-based model predicted that magnetic
fields decrease colony growth rate, density, and roundness. Magnetic field
simulations further predicted that colony elongation and boundary fluctuations
increase in a nutrient- and ploidy-dependent manner. These in-silico
predictions are an important step towards understanding the effects of the
physico-chemical environment on microbial colonies and for informing
bioelectromagnetic experiments on yeast colony biofilms and fungal pathogens.
