Topological transition in filamentous cyanobacteria: from motion to structure

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Cammann, Jan, Faluweki, Mixon K., Dambacher, Nayara, Goehring, Lucas, Mazza, Marco G.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866909406303617024
author Cammann, Jan
Faluweki, Mixon K.
Dambacher, Nayara
Goehring, Lucas
Mazza, Marco G.
author_facet Cammann, Jan
Faluweki, Mixon K.
Dambacher, Nayara
Goehring, Lucas
Mazza, Marco G.
contents Many active systems are capable of forming intriguing patterns at scales significantly larger than the size of their individual constituents. Cyanobacteria are one of the most ancient and important phyla of organisms that has allowed the evolution of more complex life forms. Despite its importance, the role of motility on the pattern formation of their colonies is not understood. Here, we investigate the large-scale collective effects and rich dynamics of gliding filamentous cyanobacteria colonies, while still retaining information about the individual constituents' dynamics and their interactions. We investigate both the colony's transient and steady-state dynamics and find good agreement with experiments. We furthermore show that the Peclet number and aligning interaction strength govern the system's topological transition from an isotropic distribution to a state of large-scale reticulate patterns. Although the system is topologically non-trivial, the parallel and perpendicular pair correlation functions provide structural information about the colony, and thus can be used to extract information about the early stages of biofilm formation. Finally, we find that the effects of the filaments' length cannot be reduced to a system of interacting points. Our model proves to reproduce both cyanobacteria colonies and systems of biofilaments where curvature is transported by motility.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_06314
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Topological transition in filamentous cyanobacteria: from motion to structure
Cammann, Jan
Faluweki, Mixon K.
Dambacher, Nayara
Goehring, Lucas
Mazza, Marco G.
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Many active systems are capable of forming intriguing patterns at scales significantly larger than the size of their individual constituents. Cyanobacteria are one of the most ancient and important phyla of organisms that has allowed the evolution of more complex life forms. Despite its importance, the role of motility on the pattern formation of their colonies is not understood. Here, we investigate the large-scale collective effects and rich dynamics of gliding filamentous cyanobacteria colonies, while still retaining information about the individual constituents' dynamics and their interactions. We investigate both the colony's transient and steady-state dynamics and find good agreement with experiments. We furthermore show that the Peclet number and aligning interaction strength govern the system's topological transition from an isotropic distribution to a state of large-scale reticulate patterns. Although the system is topologically non-trivial, the parallel and perpendicular pair correlation functions provide structural information about the colony, and thus can be used to extract information about the early stages of biofilm formation. Finally, we find that the effects of the filaments' length cannot be reduced to a system of interacting points. Our model proves to reproduce both cyanobacteria colonies and systems of biofilaments where curvature is transported by motility.
title Topological transition in filamentous cyanobacteria: from motion to structure
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.06314