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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 19: Active Matter III (joint session DY/BP/CPP)
BP 19.4: Talk
Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 10:30–10:45, BH-N 334
Active Spaghetti: Collective Organization in Cyanobacteria — •Jan Cammann1, Mixon K. Faluweki2,3, Lucas Goehring2, and Marco G. Mazza1 — 1Loughborough University, UK — 2Nottingham Trent University, UK — 3Malawi Institute of Technology
Filamentous cyanobacteria can show fascinating examples of nonequilibrium self-organization, which, however, are not well understood from a physical perspective. We investigate the motility and collective organization of colonies of these simple multicellular lifeforms. As their area density increases, linear chains of cells gliding on a substrate show a transition from an isotropic distribution to bundles of filaments arranged in a reticulate pattern. Based on our experimental observations of individual behavior and pairwise interactions, we introduce a nonreciprocal model accounting for the filaments large aspect ratio, fluctuations in curvature, motility, and nematic interactions. This minimal model of active filaments recapitulates the observations, and rationalizes the appearance of a characteristic length scale in the system, based on the Péclet number of the cyanobacteria filaments.
Reference: M. Faluweki, J. Cammann, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 158303 (2023)
Keywords: collective behavior; nonequilibrium statistical mechanics; active matter; cyanobacteria; pattern formation