# Surfing on protein waves: proteophoresis as a mechanism for bacterial genome partitioning

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a minimal reaction-diffusion model incorporating proteophoresis to explain bacterial chromosome segregation, successfully reproducing observed oscillations and positioning behaviors, and offering insights into active matter separation at microscopic scales.

## Contribution

The study presents a novel phenomenological model coupling reaction-diffusion equations with proteophoresis to explain bacterial genome partitioning mechanisms.

## Key findings

- Model reproduces dynamic oscillations of partition components
- Explains complex separation and symmetrical positioning
- Provides insights into active matter separation at micrometric scales

## Abstract

Efficient bacterial chromosome segregation typically requires the coordinated action of a three-components, fueled by adenosine triphosphate machinery called the partition complex. We present a phenomenological model accounting for the dynamic activity of this system. The model is obtained by coupling simple linear reaction-diffusion equations with a proteophoresis, or "volumetric" chemophoresis, force field. This minimal description, in the sense of Occam's Razor principle, captures most known experimental observations: dynamic oscillations of complex components, complex separation and subsequent symmetrical positioning. The predictions of our model are in phenomenological agreement with and provide substantial insights into recent experiments. From a non-linear physics view point, this system explores the active separation of matter at micrometric scales with a dynamical instability between static positioning and travelling wave regimes.