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Bacterial swarmer cells in confinement: a mesoscale hydrodynamic simulation study
Thomas Eisenstecken1, Jinglei Hu2, Roland G Winkler1
1Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics, Institute for Advanced Simulation and Institute of Complex Systems, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany. t.eisenstecken@fz-juelich.de r.winkler@fz-juelich.de.
Soft Matter
|October 8, 2016
Summary
Swarming bacteria like E. coli change shape and behavior when confined. Their cell distribution and movement depend on the gap size between walls, shifting from geometry- to fluid-dominated dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Biophysics
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Peritrichous bacteria exhibit swarming, a collective migration on surfaces.
- Swarming involves significant physiological changes, including increased cell length and flagella.
- Understanding bacterial behavior in confined environments is crucial for various applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the properties of individual E. coli swarmer cells confined between parallel walls.
- To analyze the effects of wall separation on flagella arrangement, cell distribution, and dynamics.
- To elucidate the transition from geometry-dominated to fluid-dominated behaviors in confined bacterial migration.
Main Methods:
- Mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations were employed.
- Combined molecular dynamics of swarmer cells with multiparticle collision dynamics for fluid simulation.
- Varied wall separation to study confinement effects.
Main Results:
- E. coli swarmer cells are three times longer than planktonic cells with comparable flagella density.
- Confinement showed a weak dependence on flagella bundle structure and dynamics.
- Cell distribution shifted from the gap center (narrow gaps) to near walls (wider gaps).
Conclusions:
- Bacterial cell distribution in confined spaces transitions from geometry- to fluid-dominated regimes.
- Migration behaviors, including straight swimming and wall rolling, depend on flagella arrangement.
- Simulations provide insights into bacterial dynamics under spatial constraints.
