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Confinement discerns swarmers from planktonic bacteria
Weijie Chen1,2, Neha Mani1, Hamid Karani1
1Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, United States.
Elife
|April 22, 2021
Summary
Bacterial swarming and planktonic cells show distinct movement patterns in microwells. Swarming bacteria form single swirls, while planktonic cells create multiple swirls, aiding in distinguishing these collective behaviors.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Biophysics
- Active Matter Physics
Background:
- Bacterial swarming, a collective motion on surfaces, is crucial for virulence and pathogenesis.
- Swarming involves physical changes like cell elongation and hyper-flagellation.
- Differences in collective motion between swarming and planktonic bacteria are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To differentiate bacterial swarming from collective swimming using confinement.
- To investigate the distinct motion patterns of swarming versus planktonic bacteria.
- To explore bacterial collective motion in complex environments.
Main Methods:
- Confining bacterial movement in circular microwells of varying sizes.
- Utilizing a novel bacterial strain, *Enterobacter* sp. SM3.
- Employing numerical simulations to model cell-cell interactions.
- Observing bacterial swarming on murine intestinal surfaces using PDMS microchip arrays.
Main Results:
- Swarming and planktonic *Enterobacter* sp. SM3 exhibited different motion patterns in microwells (40-90 μm diameter).
- Swarming SM3 formed single-swirl patterns, while planktonic SM3 formed multiple swirls.
- Similar differential behavior was observed in other gram-negative bacteria; 'rafting behavior' in swarming cells was noted.
Conclusions:
- Microwell confinement effectively distinguishes bacterial swarming from collective swimming.
- Stronger cell-cell alignment interactions in swarming cells explain observed motion patterns.
- The study proposes a novel method for characterizing bacterial swarming in complex and in vivo environments.
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