Biotropic liquid crystal phase transformations in cellulose-producing bacterial communities.

ABSTRACT: Biological functionality is often enabled by a fascinating variety of physical phenomena that emerge from orientational order of building blocks, a defining property of nematic liquid crystals that is also pervasive in nature. Out-of-equilibrium, "living" analogs of these technological materials are found in biological embodiments ranging from myelin sheath of neurons to extracellular matrices of bacterial biofilms and cuticles of beetles. However, physical underpinnings behind manifestations of orientational order in biological systems often remain unexplored. For example, while nematiclike birefringent domains of biofilms are found in many bacterial systems, the physics behind their formation is rarely known. Here, using cellulose-synthesizing Acetobacter xylinum bacteria, we reve

SUBMITTER: Repula A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9214502 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature