Modeling of uniflagellated bacterial locomotion in unbounded fluid and near a no-slip plane surface

TL;DR

This study models uniflagellated bacterial locomotion near surfaces, revealing how hydrodynamic interactions and flagellum flexibility influence bacterial attraction or repulsion, with implications for biofilm formation and micro-robot design.

Contribution

The paper introduces a numerical elastohydrodynamic model combining boundary integral and Kirchhoff rod techniques to analyze bacterial surface interactions.

Findings

Puller bacteria are attracted to surfaces due to hydrodynamics.

Pusher bacteria's surface behavior depends on flagellum stiffness and ion concentration.

Flexible hooks can cause abrupt bacterial reorientation near surfaces.

Abstract

The accumulation of swimming bacteria near surfaces may lead to biological processes such as biofilm formation and wound infection. Previous experimental observations of Vibrio alginolyticus showed an interesting correlation between the bacterial entrapment near surfaces and the concentration of NaCl in the swimming medium. At higher concentrations of the ions, V.alginolyticus in the puller mode (with flagella in front of the body) tends to stay close to the surface whereas in the pusher mode (with flagella behind the body) it is more likely to escape from the surface. Motivated by these observations, we numerically investigate the locomotion of a uniflagellated model bacterium in unbounded fluid and near a planar surface. In our elastohydrodynamic model, the boundary integral technique and Kirchhoff rod model are employed respectively to calculate the hydrodynamic forces on the swimmer and model the elastic deformations of the flagellum consisting of a short, flexible hook and a long, relatively stiff filament. Our numerical results demonstrate that hydrodynamic interactions between the model bacterium and the solid wall cause the puller type to be attracted to the surface, whereas the pusher type is either repelled from or attracted to the surface depending on the flagellum and hook stiffness, the ion concentration (which determines the motor torque), and the cell body aspect ratio. We also show that large deformations of a very flexible hook can lead to an abrupt reorientation of the cell when the bacterium encounters a solid surface. These research findings can be used not only in understanding uniflagellated bacterial behavior but also in designing bacteria-mimicking micro-robots with biomedical and environmental monitoring applications.