Bacterial chemotaxis transverse to axial flow in a microfluidic channel

Swimming bacteria sense and respond to chemical signals in their environment. Chemotaxis is the directed migration of a bacterial population toward increasing concentrations of a chemical that they perceive to be beneficial to their survival. Bacteria that are indigenous to groundwater environments exhibit chemotaxis toward chemical contaminants such as hydrocarbons, which they are also able to degrade. This phenomenon may facilitate bioremediation processes by bringing bacteria into closer proximity to these contaminants. A microfluidic device was assembled to study chemotaxis transverse to advective flow. Using a T-shaped channel design (T-sensor), two fluid streams were brought into contact by impinging flow. They then flowed adjacent to each other along a transparent channel. An advantage to this design is that it allows real-time visualization of bacterial distributions within the channel. Under laminar flow conditions a chemotactic driving force was created perpendicular to the direction of flow by diffusion of the chemical attractant from one input stream to the other. A comparison of the chemotactic band behavior in the absence and presence of flow showed that fluid velocity did not significantly impede chemotactic migration in the transverse direction.