Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Apr 23;104(16):168102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.168102. Epub 2010 Apr 22.
We report on the emergence of spontaneously forming migrating bands of E. coli bacteria inside a microchannel containing microstructured ratchets. We show that a collection of bacteria is able to migrate against the funnel-shaped barriers by creating and maintaining a chemoattractant gradient. A transition between pure rectification and chemotaxis-driven collective motion is predicted from theoretical models, and is observed experimentally as the initial inoculation density is varied.
我们报告了在含有微结构棘轮的微通道内，大肠杆菌自发形成迁移带的现象。我们表明，通过创建和维持化学引诱剂梯度，细菌集合体能够克服漏斗形障碍物进行迁移。理论模型预测了从纯整流到趋化性驱动集体运动的转变，并且可以通过改变初始接种密度来进行实验观察。
