2017_PRF.pdf (1.65 MB)
Biopolymer dynamics driven by helical flagella
journal contribution
posted on 2018-12-10, 11:21 authored by Andrew K. Balin, Andreas Zottl, Julia M. Yeomans, Tyler ShendrukMicrobial flagellates typically inhabit complex suspensions of polymeric material which
can impact the swimming speed of motile microbes, filter feeding of sessile cells, and the
generation of biofilms. There is currently a need to better understand how the fundamental
dynamics of polymers near active cells or flagella impacts these various phenomena, in
particular, the hydrodynamic and steric influence of a rotating helical filament on suspended
polymers. Our Stokesian dynamics simulations show that as a stationary rotating helix
pumps fluid along its long axis, polymers migrate radially inward while being elongated.
We observe that the actuation of the helix tends to increase the probability of finding
polymeric material within its pervaded volume. This accumulation of polymers within the
vicinity of the helix is stronger for longer polymers. We further analyze the stochastic work
performed by the helix on the polymers and show that this quantity is positive on average
and increases with polymer contour length.
Funding
This work was supported through funding from the ERC Advanced Grant No. 291234 MiCE and we acknowledge EMBO funding to T.N.S. (ALTF181-2013). A.Z. acknowledges funding by Marie Skłodowska Curie Intra-European Fellowship (G.A. No. 653284) within Horizon 2020
History
School
- Science
Department
- Mathematical Sciences
Published in
Physical Review FluidsVolume
2Issue
11Citation
BALIN, A.K. ... et al., 2017. Biopolymer dynamics driven by helical flagella. Physical Review Fluids, 2: 113102.Publisher
© American Physical SocietyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Acceptance date
2017-11-01Publication date
2017-11-16Notes
This paper was published in the journal Physical Review Fluids and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.2.113102eISSN
2469-990XPublisher version
Language
- en