Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Jonathan D. Partridge
Summary: The survival and successful spread of many bacterial species depend on their mode of motility, and swarming is a distinct form of collective motility where a dense group of bacteria use flagella to move across solid surfaces. Surface environments present unique challenges due to higher friction/tension and inadequate hydration, and bacteria have developed various mechanisms to overcome these challenges. In addition to enabling bacteria to colonize new terrains without bulk liquid, swarming also provides faster speeds and enhanced antibiotic resistance to the collective, contributing to the dissemination and pathogenicity of different bacterial species.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Antai Tao, Guangzhe Liu, Rongjing Zhang, Junhua Yuan
Summary: The cytoplasmic ring of the bacterial flagellar motor controls the rotation direction and undergoes adaptive remodeling. By measuring the copy numbers of FliM molecules in different rotating motors, it was found that there are more FliM molecules than previously estimated, suggesting a new mechanism of C-ring adaptation. All of the FliM molecules in the C-ring are involved in chemotaxis signaling transduction.
Article
Microbiology
Nichith K. Ratheesh, Amanda M. Zdimal, Cole A. Calderon, Abhishek Shrivastava
Summary: Dysbiosis of the human oral microbiota is associated with several diseases, but the factors that shape the biogeography of the oral microbiota are mostly opaque. C. gingivalis, a bacterium abundant in human gingival regions, has robust gliding motility that is powered by the type 9 secretion system. We demonstrate that swarms of C. gingivalis can transport phages through a complex biofilm which increases the death rate of the prey biofilm. These findings suggest that C. gingivalis could be used as a vehicle for the transportation of antimicrobials and that active phage transportation could shape the spatial structure of a microbial community.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Dario Cortese, Kirsty Y. Wan
Summary: This study demonstrates that the rolling motion of the biflagellate Chlamydomonas reinhardtii during swimming is derived from a nonplanar flagellar beat pattern, and a 3D model is constructed to explain this phenomenon. It is found that helical swimming requires further symmetry breaking between the two flagella, which is crucial for phototactic responses.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Benjamin Russell, Ariel Rogers, Ryan Yoder, Matthew Kurilich, Venkata Rao Krishnamurthi, Jingyi Chen, Yong Wang
Summary: Silver (Ag) in different forms has gained attention for its antimicrobial activities, especially as bacteria become more resistant to antibiotics. However, the mechanism of how Ag affects bacterial motility is not fully understood. In this study, we found that Ag+ ions significantly inhibited the motility of E. coli bacteria and increased the tumbling/pausing frequency. Using the hidden Markov model (HMM), we analyzed the results and found that Ag+ ions decreased the bacterial tumbling/pausing-to-running transition rate. This work provides new quantitative understanding of Ag-based antimicrobial agents in bacterial motility.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Peng Zhang, Yun Qiu, Yulan Wang, Leyi Xiao, Shimin Yu, Miusi Shi, Yueqi Ni, Richard J. Miron, Yingying Pu, Yufeng Zhang
Summary: With the rapid development of nanotechnology, nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used as antimicrobial agents but it remains unclear whether they are effective against bacterial persistence, a major reason for antibiotic treatment failure. This study found that instead of eradicating persister cells, various NPs promoted the formation of bacterial persistence by exerting a hyperosmotic pressure around the cells. Additionally, NPs hijacked cell osmotic regulatory circuits by inducing aggregation of outer membrane proteins.
Review
Microbiology
Remy Colin, Bin Ni, Leanid Laganenka, Victor Sourjik
Summary: Swimming bacteria can follow gradients of nutrients and signaling molecules for optimal growth, with chemotaxis enhancing efficiency in environmental colonization. The balance between individual and collective behaviors is crucial, with multiple roles of motility and chemotaxis in bacterial swarming, biofilm formation, and interactions with hosts.
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Zhihui Lyu, Angela Yang, Patricia Villanueva, Abhyudai Singh, Jiqiang Ling
Summary: Research has found that the pathogen Salmonella divides its population into subgroups that express flagella and those that do not, exhibiting varying levels of tolerance to antibiotics. Interestingly, cells expressing flagella are less tolerant to antibiotics due to the consumption of cellular energy during flagellar motility, which decreases efflux activity. This diversity in response contributes to the overall bacterial population's ability to quickly adapt to different environmental conditions.
Article
Microbiology
Sandra Sanchez, Caroline M. Dunn, Daniel B. Kearns
Summary: This study identifies the lytic transglycosylase CwlQ as a critical enzyme for flagellum-dependent swarming motility in Gram-negative bacteria, while the lyase essential for flagellar insertion in Gram-positive bacteria remains unknown. Even when mutated in combination with other lyases related to motility, CwlQ mutation does not affect flagellar biosynthesis in Gram-positive bacteria.
JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Katarzyna Zegadlo, Monika Gieron, Paulina Zarnowiec, Katarzyna Durlik-Popinska, Beata Krecisz, Wieslaw Kaca, Grzegorz Czerwonka
Summary: Skin and wound infections are difficult to treat due to the diversity of bacteria and their motility plays a key role in causing infections. This article reviews the types of bacterial movement and discusses the underlying mechanisms that can be targeted for developing antibacterial therapies for wound infections. Five types of bacterial movement are identified: appendage-dependent (swimming, swarming, and twitching) and appendage-independent (gliding and sliding), all of which contribute to bacteria's ability to relocate and aid in infection.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Navish Wadhwa, Yuhai Tu, Howard C. Berg
Summary: Motility is crucial for the survival and dispersal of many bacteria, and plays a role during infections. Recent research has shown that the bidirectional flagellar motor of E. coli adjusts torque-generating units in response to changes in load, representing a robust strategy for quickly regulating output.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Tagir Z. Muslimov, Rustem A. Munasypov
Summary: The paper introduces a novel approach for controlling a swarm of fixed-wing UAVs to fly in parallel formation, using cooperative control laws and backstepping techniques to ensure stability and precision in flight.
AEROSPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yunjie Chang, Brittany L. Carroll, Jun Liu
Summary: The bacterial flagellar motor is a rotary machine that can rapidly switch between counterclockwise and clockwise rotational directions to control bacterial cell migration behavior. Recent high-resolution structural studies have revealed detailed interactions of the components in both rotational senses, providing insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying flagellar rotation and switching.
TRENDS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gal Natan, Vasco M. Worlitzer, Gil Ariel, Avraham Be'er
Summary: This paper studies mixed swarms of Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and finds intricate interactions between the species, showing both cooperation and segregation. Despite their differences in characteristics, the two species can swarm together to form a mixed colony, while also achieving local segregation.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Andy M. Reynolds
Summary: This article addresses three theoretical impediments to understanding and modeling collective animal behavior, as pointed out by Ouellette (2022 Phys. Biol. 19 021004), and shows how these obstacles can be overcome or negated through novel analyses and the latest research. It suggests that recent advances in the physics of collective behavior provide significant biological information.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chong Chen, Song Liu, Xia-qing Shi, Hugues Chate, Yilin Wu
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Ye Li, He Zhai, Sandra Sanchez, Daniel B. Kearns, Yilin Wu
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2017)
Article
Biophysics
Liyan Ping, Yilin Wu, Basarab G. Hosu, Jay X. Tang, Howard C. Berg
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL
(2014)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Haoran Xu, Justas Dauparas, Debasish Das, Eric Lauga, Yilin Wu
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2019)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gerard C. L. Wong, Jyot D. Antani, Pushkar P. Lele, Jing Chen, Beiyan Nan, Marco J. Kuhn, Alexandre Persat, Jean-Louis Bru, Nina Molin Hoyland-Kroghsbo, Albert Siryaporn, Jacinta C. Conrad, Francesco Carrara, Yutaka Yawata, Roman Stocker, Yves Brun, Gregory B. Whitfield, Calvin K. Lee, Jaime de Anda, William C. Schmidt, Ramin Golestanian, George A. O'Toole, Kyle A. Floyd, Fitnat H. Yildiz, Shuai Yang, Fan Jin, Masanori Toyofuku, Leo Eberl, Nobuhiko Nomura, Lori A. Zacharoff, Mohamed Y. El-Naggar, Sibel Ebru Yalcin, Nikhil S. Malvankar, Mauricio D. Rojas-Andrade, Allon Hochbaum, Jing Yan, Howard A. Stone, Ned S. Wingreen, Bonnie L. Bassler, Yilin Wu, Haoran Xu, Knut Drescher, Jorn Dunkel
Summary: Bacterial biofilms are communities of bacteria that are essential to microbial physiology, with a complex relationship between single-cell behavior and collective community behavior. Biofilm microbiology, a relatively young field, has attracted physicists who use physics to study fundamental concepts in bacterial biofilms. The combination of physics and biology in this field exemplifies a new synthesis, rather than just a division of labor.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Song Liu, Suraj Shankar, M. Cristina Marchetti, Yilin Wu
Summary: Active matter is composed of units that generate mechanical work by consuming energy, such as living systems and biopolymers. The goal is to understand and control the self-organization in space and time. Most active systems exhibit spatial order or temporal synchronization, while simultaneous control of spatial and temporal organization requires complex interactions.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Fengtong Ji, Yilin Wu, Martin Pumera, Li Zhang
Summary: Analyzing and designing collective behaviors in microorganisms is crucial for developing and advancing microswarm towards practical or clinical applications.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ding Cao, Mariia Dvoriashyna, Song Liu, Eric Lauga, Yilin Wu
Summary: The study found that in viscoelastic polymer fluids, bacteria swim in less curved trajectories and display reduced near-surface accumulation. The theoretical analysis of non-Newtonian hydrodynamic forces revealed the existence of a lift force near a rigid surface, weakening the hydrodynamic interaction between bacteria and solid surfaces and contributing to a decrease in surface accumulation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biology
Ye Li, Shiqi Liu, Yingdan Zhang, Zi Jing Seng, Haoran Xu, Liang Yang, Yilin Wu
Summary: This study reports a unique form of actively regulated long-range directed material transport in structured bacterial communities, mediated by biosurfactants secreted by cells. This mechanism helps to eradicate colonies of a competing species.
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Haoran Xu, Yulu Huang, Rui Zhang, Yilin Wu
Summary: This study uses a biofilm-based living active solid to observe self-sustained elastic waves and two global motion modes with a sharp transition between them.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mengyao Chen, Xiangying Shen, Zhen Chen, Jack Hau Yung Lo, Yuan Liu, Xinliang Xu, Yilin Wu, Lei Xu
Summary: Metamaterials are artificial materials with unique structures that can achieve special properties. In breast cancer research, the invisibility of glutathione peroxidase 2 (GPx2) has attracted attention for its significant role in cancer cell signaling and patient survival. The study discovered various designs of invisible metamaterials and successfully realized a multifunctional hydrodynamic metamaterial, which may have potential applications in tissue engineering and drug release.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zhaohui Cao, Wenlong Zuo, Lanxiang Wang, Junyu Chen, Zepeng Qu, Fan Jin, Lei Dai
Summary: Spatial analysis of microbiomes at single cell resolution with high multiplexity and accuracy is challenging, but can be achieved using sequential error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (SEER-FISH). SEER-FISH allows mapping of microbial communities at micron-scale and increases multiplexity of RNA profiling through sequential rounds of probe hybridization and dissociation. With error-correction strategies, SEER-FISH enables accurate taxonomic identification in complex microbial communities and provides a useful method for profiling the spatial ecology of these communities in situ.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Haoran Xu, Mehrana R. Nejad, Julia M. Yeomans, Yilin Wu
Summary: Studied the evolution of bacterial active matter confined by a deformable boundary. Discovered an ordered morphological pattern and a self-similar branch pattern at the interface, which are geometrically controlled by the local curvature of the interface.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
