Wetting-coupled phase separation as an energetic mechanism for active bacterial adhesion
Fuente:
arXiv
Enregistré dans:
| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
|
| Sujets: | |
| Accès en ligne: | |
| Tags: |
Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
|
| _version_ | 1866911366296633344 |
|---|---|
| author | Yang, Dixi Wang, Anheng Huang, Jia Zhuo, Xiaofeng Wang, Chunming Tanaka, Hajime Yuan, Jiaxing |
| author_facet | Yang, Dixi Wang, Anheng Huang, Jia Zhuo, Xiaofeng Wang, Chunming Tanaka, Hajime Yuan, Jiaxing |
| contents | The rapid adhesion of motile bacteria from dilute suspensions poses a fundamental non-equilibrium problem: hydrodynamic interactions bias bacterial motion near surfaces without generating stable confinement, while electrostatic interactions are predominantly repulsive. Here, combining experiments on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in a polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two-phase system with large-scale hydrodynamic simulations, we identify wetting-coupled liquid--liquid phase separation (LLPS) as an energetic trapping mechanism for bacterial adhesion. When bacteria partition into a phase that preferentially wets the substrate, interfacial free-energy minimization creates a deep energetic trap that stabilizes adhesion and induces lateral clustering via capillary interactions. Crucially, bacterial motility plays a dual role: at low phase volume fractions, activity enhances transport into the wetting layer and promotes accumulation, whereas at higher phase volumes it suppresses adhesion through the formation of self-spinning droplets that generate hydrodynamic lift opposing interfacial trapping. Our results establish wetting-coupled LLPS as a generic physical route governing interfacial organization in active suspensions. This provides a unified energetic framework for bacterial adhesion in complex fluids, with broad implications for deciphering bacterial-cell interactions and controlling biofilm formation. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_06754 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Wetting-coupled phase separation as an energetic mechanism for active bacterial adhesion Yang, Dixi Wang, Anheng Huang, Jia Zhuo, Xiaofeng Wang, Chunming Tanaka, Hajime Yuan, Jiaxing Soft Condensed Matter The rapid adhesion of motile bacteria from dilute suspensions poses a fundamental non-equilibrium problem: hydrodynamic interactions bias bacterial motion near surfaces without generating stable confinement, while electrostatic interactions are predominantly repulsive. Here, combining experiments on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in a polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two-phase system with large-scale hydrodynamic simulations, we identify wetting-coupled liquid--liquid phase separation (LLPS) as an energetic trapping mechanism for bacterial adhesion. When bacteria partition into a phase that preferentially wets the substrate, interfacial free-energy minimization creates a deep energetic trap that stabilizes adhesion and induces lateral clustering via capillary interactions. Crucially, bacterial motility plays a dual role: at low phase volume fractions, activity enhances transport into the wetting layer and promotes accumulation, whereas at higher phase volumes it suppresses adhesion through the formation of self-spinning droplets that generate hydrodynamic lift opposing interfacial trapping. Our results establish wetting-coupled LLPS as a generic physical route governing interfacial organization in active suspensions. This provides a unified energetic framework for bacterial adhesion in complex fluids, with broad implications for deciphering bacterial-cell interactions and controlling biofilm formation. |
| title | Wetting-coupled phase separation as an energetic mechanism for active bacterial adhesion |
| topic | Soft Condensed Matter |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06754 |