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Related Experiment Videos

Periodic chirality transformations propagating on bacterial flagella.

Daniel Coombs1, Greg Huber, John O Kessler

  • 1Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.

Physical Review Letters
|September 13, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Bacterial flagella can switch handedness in response to external flow. This study models the flagellum as an elastic object, explaining the observed chiral transformation pulses.

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Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Biophysics
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • Bacterial flagella are helical structures enabling motility.
  • External fluid flow can induce complex behaviors in flagella.
  • Previous observations show flagella switching chirality in response to flow.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To theoretically explain the phenomenon of bacterial flagella switching chirality.
  • To model the flagellum as a multi-stable elastic object.
  • To reproduce experimental observations using a simplified theoretical framework.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical modeling of the bacterial flagellum.
  • Treatment as an elastic filament with multiple stable configurations.
  • Mathematical analysis of chiral transformation dynamics.

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Main Results:

  • The model accurately reproduces key experimental features of chiral switching.
  • Demonstrates that multiple stable configurations explain the observed phenomenon.
  • Identifies periodic chiral transformation pulses traveling along the flagellum.

Conclusions:

  • The elastic, multi-stable model provides a robust explanation for flagellar chiral switching.
  • The simplest implementation of the model captures essential experimental dynamics.
  • This work offers insights into the mechanics of biological filaments under external forces.