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Biophys. J. BioFAST: First Published October 20, 2005. doi:10.1529/biophysj.105.069401
© 2005 by the Biophysical Society.

A more recent version of this article appeared on January 15, 2006.
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BIOPHYSICAL THEORY AND MODELING

Swimming in circles: Motion of bacteria near solid boundaries

Eric Lauga 1*, Willow R. DiLuzio 2, George M. Whitesides 2 and Howard A. Stone 2

1 MIT
2 Harvard University

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lauga{at}mit.edu.

Submitted on June 24, 2005
Revised on July 16, 2005
Accepted on 28 September 2005


  Abstract
Near a solid boundary, E. coli swims in clockwise circular motion. We provide a hydrodynamic model for this behavior. We show that circular trajectories are natural consequences of force-free and torque-free swimming and the hydrodynamic interactions with the boundary, which also leads to a hydrodynamic trapping of the cells close to the surface. We compare the results of the model with experimental data and obtain reasonable agreement. In particular, the radius of curvature of the trajectory is observed to increase with the length of the bacterium body.

Key Words: Bacteria, E. coli, Flagella, Hydrodynamics, Motility, Swimming




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T. Ahmed and R. Stocker
Experimental Verification of the Behavioral Foundation of Bacterial Transport Parameters Using Microfluidics
Biophys. J., November 1, 2008; 95(9): 4481 - 4493.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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Copyright © 2005 by the Biophysical Society.