Experimental Physics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
Soft Matter. 2019 Dec 11;15(48):10029-10034. doi: 10.1039/c9sm01790a.
We characterize the bundle properties for three different strains of B. subtilis bacteria with various numbers of flagella. Our study reveals that, surprisingly, the number of bundles is independent of the number of flagella, and the formation of three bundles is always the most frequent case. We assume that this relates to the fact that different mutants have the same body length. There is no significant difference between the bundle width and length for distinct strains, but the projected angle between the bundles increases with the flagellar number. Furthermore, we find that the swimming speed is anti-correlated with the projected angle between the bundles, and the wobbling angle between the swimming direction and cell body increases with the number of flagella. Our findings highlight the impact of geometrical properties of bacteria such as body length and bundle configuration on their motility.
我们对具有不同鞭毛数量的三种不同枯草芽孢杆菌菌株的束特性进行了描述。我们的研究表明，令人惊讶的是，束的数量与鞭毛的数量无关，并且总是最常形成三个束。我们假设这与不同突变体具有相同的体长有关。不同菌株的束宽度和长度没有明显差异，但束之间的投影角度随着鞭毛数量的增加而增加。此外，我们发现游泳速度与束之间的投影角度呈负相关，并且游泳方向和细胞体之间的摆动角度随着鞭毛数量的增加而增加。我们的研究结果强调了细菌的几何特性，如体长和束结构，对其运动能力的影响。
