Swimming patterns of a multi-mode bacterial swimmer in fluid shear flow

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Muraveva, Valeriia, Datta, Agniva, Park, Jeungeun, Pfeifer, Veronika, Kim, Yongsam, Lee, Wanho, Lim, Sookkyung, Beta, Carsten
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917040124592128
author Muraveva, Valeriia
Datta, Agniva
Park, Jeungeun
Pfeifer, Veronika
Kim, Yongsam
Lee, Wanho
Lim, Sookkyung
Beta, Carsten
author_facet Muraveva, Valeriia
Datta, Agniva
Park, Jeungeun
Pfeifer, Veronika
Kim, Yongsam
Lee, Wanho
Lim, Sookkyung
Beta, Carsten
contents Bacterial swimming is well characterized in uniform liquids at rest. The natural habitat of bacterial swimmers, however, is often dominated by moving fluids and interfaces, resulting in shear flows that may strongly alter bacterial navigation strategies. Here, we study how fluid shear flow affects the swimming motility of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida, a bacterial swimmer that moves in a versatile pattern composed of three different swimming modes, where the flagella may push, pull, or wrap around the cell body (multi-mode swimmer). We introduce a computer automated cell tracking and swimming mode detection tool to show that shear induced alignment depends on the swimming mode, while motility and proximity to surfaces counteract the alignment effect. Moreover, filament wrapping becomes less efficient with increasing shear stress. Numerical simulations of realistic swimmer geometries complement our experimental results, providing more detailed mechanistic insights into movement patterns of bacterial swimmers in a shear flow.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_21548
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Swimming patterns of a multi-mode bacterial swimmer in fluid shear flow
Muraveva, Valeriia
Datta, Agniva
Park, Jeungeun
Pfeifer, Veronika
Kim, Yongsam
Lee, Wanho
Lim, Sookkyung
Beta, Carsten
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Bacterial swimming is well characterized in uniform liquids at rest. The natural habitat of bacterial swimmers, however, is often dominated by moving fluids and interfaces, resulting in shear flows that may strongly alter bacterial navigation strategies. Here, we study how fluid shear flow affects the swimming motility of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida, a bacterial swimmer that moves in a versatile pattern composed of three different swimming modes, where the flagella may push, pull, or wrap around the cell body (multi-mode swimmer). We introduce a computer automated cell tracking and swimming mode detection tool to show that shear induced alignment depends on the swimming mode, while motility and proximity to surfaces counteract the alignment effect. Moreover, filament wrapping becomes less efficient with increasing shear stress. Numerical simulations of realistic swimmer geometries complement our experimental results, providing more detailed mechanistic insights into movement patterns of bacterial swimmers in a shear flow.
title Swimming patterns of a multi-mode bacterial swimmer in fluid shear flow
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.21548