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Main Authors: Klimek, Anton, Baruah, Prince V., Sharma, Prerna, Netz, Roland R.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.18669
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_version_ 1866911399551172608
author Klimek, Anton
Baruah, Prince V.
Sharma, Prerna
Netz, Roland R.
author_facet Klimek, Anton
Baruah, Prince V.
Sharma, Prerna
Netz, Roland R.
contents Cell motility underlies many biological processes, including cancer metastasis, bacterial infection, and evolutionary adaptation. We introduce a non-equilibrium single-cell motility model inspired by the generalized Langevin equation, which accounts for hydrodynamic friction and correlated propulsion force. From video microscopy of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii algae and Salmonella typhimurium bacteria we extract the propulsion-force dynamics on the single-cell level, which we find to exhibit multi-exponential correlations, not captured by literature non-equilibrium cell-motility models. Based on our data-driven model, we predict the effective cell diffusivities beyond experimentally resolved timescales and demonstrate a diffusivity maximum at intermediate solvent viscosity for both cell types. This means that cells adapt their propulsion-force characteristics according to the solvent viscosity. In addition, our model predicts the power output of single cells, which is on the order of aW for the salmonella and fW for the algae.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_18669
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Non-Markovian non-equilibrium modeling of experimental cell-motion trajectories reveals dependence of propulsion-force correlations on solvent viscosity
Klimek, Anton
Baruah, Prince V.
Sharma, Prerna
Netz, Roland R.
Biological Physics
Cell motility underlies many biological processes, including cancer metastasis, bacterial infection, and evolutionary adaptation. We introduce a non-equilibrium single-cell motility model inspired by the generalized Langevin equation, which accounts for hydrodynamic friction and correlated propulsion force. From video microscopy of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii algae and Salmonella typhimurium bacteria we extract the propulsion-force dynamics on the single-cell level, which we find to exhibit multi-exponential correlations, not captured by literature non-equilibrium cell-motility models. Based on our data-driven model, we predict the effective cell diffusivities beyond experimentally resolved timescales and demonstrate a diffusivity maximum at intermediate solvent viscosity for both cell types. This means that cells adapt their propulsion-force characteristics according to the solvent viscosity. In addition, our model predicts the power output of single cells, which is on the order of aW for the salmonella and fW for the algae.
title Non-Markovian non-equilibrium modeling of experimental cell-motion trajectories reveals dependence of propulsion-force correlations on solvent viscosity
topic Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.18669