Dresden 2014 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 17: Microswimmers (joint DY/BP)

BP 17.11: Vortrag

Dienstag, 1. April 2014, 12:15–12:30, ZEU 146

A close look at the tumbling of bacteria — •Tapan Chandra Adhyapak and Holger Stark — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin

Peritrichous bacteria such as Escherichia coli propel themselves by using multiple flagella, each rotated at the base by a rotary motor. Hydrodynamic interactions together with an intricate balance of elasticity of the flagella cause them to synchronize and form a single bundle leading to propulsion in a straight line. Such straight runs of a bacterium frequently terminate at relatively short lived tumbling events during which one or more of the flagella leave the bundle disrupting uniform motion and causing the bacterium to change its course. In addition to hydrodynamic interactions and elasticity, rotation-induced polymorphic transitions between different flagellar states [1] is observed to play an important role in re-orientating the bacterium. The detailed process however is complex and very little understood. We investigate the tumbling strategy of an E. Coli modelling its propulsion using an extended continuum theory of elasticity in presence of hydrodynamic interactions. We examine, in particular, the effect of rotation-induced polymorphic transitions of flagella during such processes.

[1] R. Vogel and H. Stark, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 158104 (2013).