What is it about?
A tall person usually swims faster than a short one. However, this general positive size-speed correlation may not hold at microscopic scales for bacteria, where viscous dissipation overwhelms inertia in their swimming. By combining experiments, simulations and theory, we show how the swimming speed of bacteria correlate with their body length, settling a long-lasting debate over the size-speed relation of bacterial swimming.
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Why is it important?
Our study shows how the size-speed relation of bacterial swimming and illustrates its unusual origin from fluid mechanics. Our work also sheds light on the functional benefit of multiflagellarity and provides a useful guide for designing artificial microswimmers.
Perspectives
The work is the outcome of a fruitful collaboration of three leading research groups specializing in the experimental, theoretical, and numerical study of bacterial locomotion located across three continents. It is certainly a great pleasure to work with all the experts together in tackling one of the most important questions on bacterial motility.
Xiang Cheng
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Multiflagellarity leads to the size-independent swimming speed of peritrichous bacteria, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, November 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2310952120.
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