Directional Swimming of B. Subtilis Bacteria Near a Switchable Polar Surface

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Arachchige, Mahesha Kodithuwakku, Siddiquee, Zakaria, Baza, Hend, Twieg, Robert, Lavrentovich, Oleg D., Jákli, Antal
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866929633349337088
author Arachchige, Mahesha Kodithuwakku
Siddiquee, Zakaria
Baza, Hend
Twieg, Robert
Lavrentovich, Oleg D.
Jákli, Antal
author_facet Arachchige, Mahesha Kodithuwakku
Siddiquee, Zakaria
Baza, Hend
Twieg, Robert
Lavrentovich, Oleg D.
Jákli, Antal
contents The dynamics of swimming bacteria depend on the properties of their habitat media. Recently it was shown that the motion of swimming bacteria dispersed directly in a non-toxic water-based lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal can be controlled by the director field of the liquid crystal. Here we investigate whether the macroscopic polar order of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal (NF) can be recognized by bacteria B. Subtilis swimming in a water dispersion adjacent to a glassy NF film by surface interactions alone. We show that B. Subtilis tends to move in the direction antiparallel to the spontaneous electric polarization at the NF surface. Their speed was found to be the same with or without a polar NF layer. In contrast to observation on crystal ferroelectric films, the bacteria do not get immobilized. These observations may offer a pathway to creation of polar microinserts to direct bacterial motion in-vivo.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_11877
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Directional Swimming of B. Subtilis Bacteria Near a Switchable Polar Surface
Arachchige, Mahesha Kodithuwakku
Siddiquee, Zakaria
Baza, Hend
Twieg, Robert
Lavrentovich, Oleg D.
Jákli, Antal
Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
Biological Physics
The dynamics of swimming bacteria depend on the properties of their habitat media. Recently it was shown that the motion of swimming bacteria dispersed directly in a non-toxic water-based lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal can be controlled by the director field of the liquid crystal. Here we investigate whether the macroscopic polar order of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal (NF) can be recognized by bacteria B. Subtilis swimming in a water dispersion adjacent to a glassy NF film by surface interactions alone. We show that B. Subtilis tends to move in the direction antiparallel to the spontaneous electric polarization at the NF surface. Their speed was found to be the same with or without a polar NF layer. In contrast to observation on crystal ferroelectric films, the bacteria do not get immobilized. These observations may offer a pathway to creation of polar microinserts to direct bacterial motion in-vivo.
title Directional Swimming of B. Subtilis Bacteria Near a Switchable Polar Surface
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.11877