Fig 4. Error analyses.

a) Error in the acetate utilizing population fraction, relative to the 4.1 μm simulation, after the emergence of metabolic cooperativity (occurring at about 15 hours). Coarse resolutions introduce numerical oscillations when coarser than about 20 μm. b) Error in the computed volume of cells in an E. coli K-12 MG1655 colony as a function of grid resolution. Errors are computed as the relative deviation from a simulation with a 4.1 μm grid resolution averaged from 10 to 30 hours of colony growth. Total colony volume (black circles), volume of glucose utilizing cells (blue squares) and volume of acetate utilizing cells (red diamonds) are shown. Horizontal lines show 5% (solid) and 2.5% (dashed) error in the volumes.