Evidence for biosurfactant-induced flow in corners and bacterial spreading in unsaturated porous media.

ABSTRACT: The spread of pathogenic bacteria in unsaturated porous media, where air and liquid coexist in pore spaces, is the major cause of soil contamination by pathogens, soft rot in plants, food spoilage, and many pulmonary diseases. However, visualization and fundamental understanding of bacterial transport in unsaturated porous media are currently lacking, limiting the ability to address the above contamination- and disease-related issues. Here, we demonstrate a previously unreported mechanism by which bacterial cells are transported in unsaturated porous media. We discover that surfactant-producing bacteria can generate flows along corners through surfactant production that changes the wettability of the solid surface. The corner flow velocity is on the order of several millimeters per hour, w

SUBMITTER: Yang JQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8463848 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature