This work explores bacterial motility from the mechanisms of propulsion of an individual cell to the complex behavior of collective motility. The shear modulus of bacterial flagella was measured by stretching isolated flagella with an optical trap and by measuring force extension curves of the stretched flagella shedding light onto the me-chanics involved in the motility of single micro-organisms. Experiments in concentrated suspensions of bacteria show collective behavior with large scale mixing on a time and length scale greater than can be understood from the standard model of "run and tumble" motility of a single organism are reported. To further understand the transition from individual to collective motility a novel form of motility where an individual bacterium can reverse direction without changing cell orientation is reported here. These experiments further the understanding of bacterial motility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/195677 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Dombrowski, Christopher Charles |
| Contributors | Goldstein, Raymond E., Goldstein, Raymond E., Visscher, Koen, Kessler, John O., Manne, Srinivas, Hsieh, Ke Chiang |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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