Bacterial growth and motility in sub-micron constrictions.

ABSTRACT: In many naturally occurring habitats, bacteria live in micrometer-size confined spaces. Although bacterial growth and motility in such constrictions is of great interest to fields as varied as soil microbiology, water purification, and biomedical research, quantitative studies of the effects of confinement on bacteria have been limited. Here, we establish how Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis bacteria can grow, move, and penetrate very narrow constrictions with a size comparable to or even smaller than their diameter. We show that peritrichously flagellated E. coli and B. subtilis are still motile in microfabricated channels where the width of the channel exceeds their diameters only marginally (approximately 30%). For smaller widths, the motility vanishes

SUBMITTER: Mannik J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2729279 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature