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Swimming of peritrichous bacteria is enabled by an elastohydrodynamic instability.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Abstract

Peritrichously-flagellated bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, self-propel in fluids by using specialised motors to rotate multiple helical filaments. The rotation of each motor is transmitted to a short flexible segment called the hook which in turn transmits it to a flagellar filament, enabling swimming of the whole cell. Since multiple motors are spatially distributed on the body of the organism, one would expect the propulsive forces from the filaments to push against each other leading to negligible swimming. We use a combination of computations and theory to show that the swimming of peritrichous bacteria is enabled by an elastohydrodynamic bending instability occurring for hooks more flexible than a critical threshold. Using past measurements of hook bending stiffness, we demonstrate how real bacteria are safely on the side of the instability that promotes systematic swimming.

Description

Keywords

Bacteria, Bacterial Physiological Phenomena, Elasticity, Flagella, Hydrodynamics, Models, Biological, Movement, Rotation, Torque

Journal Title

Sci Rep

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2045-2322
2045-2322

Volume Title

8

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
European Research Council (682754)