Swimming statistics of cargo-loaded single bacteria

TL;DR

This study investigates the swimming behavior of bacteria carrying cargo, revealing super-diffusive motion, high directional persistence, and cargo size independence, which are crucial for bacteria-powered micro-robotic systems.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the dynamics of cargo-loaded bacteria, including their motion characteristics and how cargo size affects their navigation capabilities.

Findings

Cargo-loaded bacteria exhibit super-diffusive motion.

Bacteria can navigate with oil droplets up to 8 microns.

Directional persistence is independent of cargo size.

Abstract

Burgeoning interest in the area of bacteria-powered micro robotic systems prompted us to study the dynamics of cargo transport by single bacteria. In this paper, we have studied the swimming behaviour of oil-droplets attached as a cargo to the cell bodies of single bacteria. The oil-droplet loaded bacteria exhibit super-diffusive motion which is characterized by high degree of directional persistence. Interestingly, bacteria could navigate even when loaded with oil-droplets as large as 8 microns with an effective increase in rotational drag by more than 2 orders when compared to free bacteria. Further, the directional persistence of oil-droplet loaded bacteria was independent of the cargo size.