Hydrodynamic attraction of swimming microorganisms by surfaces
Soft Condensed Matter
2008-10-02 v1 Biological Physics
Fluid Dynamics
Abstract
Cells swimming in confined environments are attracted by surfaces. We measure the steady-state distribution of smooth-swimming bacteria (Escherichia coli) between two glass plates. In agreement with earlier studies, we find a strong increase of the cell concentration at the boundaries. We demonstrate theoretically that hydrodynamic interactions of the swimming cells with solid surfaces lead to their re-orientation in the direction parallel to the surfaces, as well as their attraction by the closest wall. A model is derived for the steady-state distribution of swimming cells, which compares favorably with our measurements. We exploit our data to estimate the flagellar propulsive force in swimming E. coli.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0806.2898,
title = {Hydrodynamic attraction of swimming microorganisms by surfaces},
author = {Allison P. Berke and Linda Turner and Howard C. Berg and Eric Lauga},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0806.2898},
year = {2008}
}