Motility Increases the Numbers and Durations of Cell-Surface Engagements for Flowing near Poly(ethylene glycol)-Functionalized Surfaces.

Bacteria are keenly sensitive to properties of the surfaces they contact, regulating their ability to form biofilms and initiate infections. This study examines how the presence of flagella, interactions between the cell body and the surface, or motility itself guides the dynamic contact between bacterial cells and a surface in flow, potentially enabling cells to sense physicochemical and mechanical properties of surfaces. This work focuses on a poly(ethylene glycol) biomaterial coating, which does not retain cells. In a comparison of four strains with different flagellar expressions and motilities, cells with substantial run-and-tumble swimming motility exhibited increased flux to the interface (3 times the calculated transport-limited rate which adequately described the non-motile cells), greater proportions of cells engaging in dynamic nanometer-scale surface associations, extended times of contact with the surface, increased probability of return to the surface after escape and, as evidenced by slow velocities during near-surface travel, closer cellular approach. All these metrics, reported here as distributions of cell populations, point to a greater ability of motile cells, compared with nonmotile cells, to interact more closely, forcefully, and for greater periods of time with interfaces in flow. With contact durations of individual cells exceeding 10 s in the window of observation and trends suggesting further interactions beyond the field of view, the dynamic contact of individual cells may approach the minute timescales reported for mechanosensing and other cell recognition pathways. Thus, despite cell translation and the dynamic nature of contact, flow past a surface, even one rendered non-cell arresting by use of an engineered coating, may produce a subpopulation of cells already upregulating virulence factors before they arrest on a downstream surface and formally initiate biofilm formation.