Is E. coli good at chemotaxis?

2026/01/08 by Robert G. Endres · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #q-bio.CB

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03103-4

arxiv published 2026/01/08 · arxiv updated 2026/01/15

Abstract

Bacteria seem masters of chemotaxis, yet recent work suggests otherwise. Henry Mattingly and colleagues (Nature Physics, 2026) argue that Escherichia coli uses only a small fraction of the sensory information available at its surface, challenging the long-held view that bacterial chemotaxis operates near physical sensing limits. This article offers a brief conceptual discussion of their findings, placing them in the context of classical chemotaxis models, robustness to noise, and broader perspectives drawn from physics, biology, and Greek mythology.

Citations

• Origins of eukaryotic excitability
• Bacteria push the limits of chemotactic precision to navigate dynamic chemical gradients
• Drift and behavior of E. coli cells
• Know the single-receptor sensing limit? Think again
• Physics of chemoreception

Discussions

• Robert G. Endres: Is E. coli good at chemotaxis? https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05301 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.05301 https://arxiv.org/html/2601.05301 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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