Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior
Published on: January 31, 2020
A model of hydrodynamic interaction between swimming bacteria
Vitaliy Gyrya1, Igor S Aranson, Leonid V Berlyand
1Department of Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. gyrya@math.psu.edu
Abstract:
We study the dynamics and interaction of two swimming bacteria, modeled by self-propelled dumbbell-type structures. We focus on alignment dynamics of a coplanar pair of elongated swimmers, which propel themselves either by "pushing" or "pulling" both in three- and quasi-two-dimensional geometries of space. We derive asymptotic expressions for the dynamics of the pair, which complemented by numerical experiments, indicate that the tendency of bacteria to swim in or swim off depends strongly on the position of the propulsion force. In particular, we observe that positioning of the effective propulsion force inside the dumbbell results in qualitative agreement with the dynamics observed in experiments, such as mutual alignment of converging bacteria.
Related Concept Videos
Flagella and Motility in Bacteria
Typical Model Studies
Chemotaxis in E. coli

