2014/05/06 by Alan Cheng Hou Tsang, Tsang, Alan Cheng Hou, Eva Kanso +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Engineering · #Micro and Nano Robotics #Molecular Communication and Nanonetworks #Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1405.1148
Bacteria exist in a free-swimming state or in a sessile biofilm state. The\ntransition from free-swimming to sessile mode is characterized by changes in\ngene expression which alter, among others,the mechanics of flagellar motility.\nIn this paper, we propose an idealized physical model to investigate the\neffects of flagellar activity on the hydrodynamic interactions among a\npopulation of microswimmers. We show that decreasing flagellar activity induces\na hydrodynamically-triggered transition in confined microswimmers from\nturbulent-like swimming to aggregation and clustering. These results suggest\nthat the interplay between flagellar activity and hydrodynamic interactions\nprovides a physical mechanism for coordinating collective behaviors in confined\nbacteria, with potentially profound implications on biofilm initiation.\n