Geometrical control of interface patterning underlies active matter invasion.

ABSTRACT: Interaction between active materials and the boundaries of geometrical confinement is key to many emergent phenomena in active systems. For living active matter consisting of animal cells or motile bacteria, the confinement boundary is often a deformable interface, and it has been unclear how activity-induced interface dynamics might lead to morphogenesis and pattern formation. Here, we studied the evolution of bacterial active matter confined by a deformable boundary. We found that an ordered morphological pattern emerged at the interface characterized by periodically spaced interfacial protrusions; behind the interfacial protrusions, bacterial swimmers self-organized into multicellular clusters displaying +1/2 nematic defects. Subsequently, a hierarchical sequence of transitions from int

SUBMITTER: Xu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10372614 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature