Trapping and viability of swimming bacteria in an optoelectric trap.

ABSTRACT: Non-contact manipulation methods capable of trapping and transporting swimming bacteria can significantly aid in chemotaxis studies. However, high swimming speed makes the trapping of these organisms an inherently challenging task. We demonstrate that an optoelectric technique, rapid electrokinetic patterning (REP), can effectively trap and manipulate Enterobacter aerogenes bacteria swimming at velocities greater than 20 μm s(-1). REP uses electro-orientation, laser-induced AC electrothermal flow, and particle-electrode interactions for capturing these cells. In contrast to trapping non-swimming bacteria and inert microspheres, we observe that electro-orientation is critical to the trapping of the swimming cells, since unaligned bacteria can swim faster than the radially inward electrother

SUBMITTER: Mishra A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5562368 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature