학술논문

Formation and Dissolution of Bacterial Colonies
Document Type
Working Paper
Source
Subject
Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter
Language
Abstract
Many organisms form colonies for a transient period of time to withstand environmental pressure. Bacterial biofilms are a prototypical example of such behavior. Despite significant interest across disciplines, physical mechanisms governing the formation and dissolution of bacterial colonies are still poorly understood. Starting from a kinetic description of motile and interacting cells we derive a hydrodynamic equation for their density on a surface. We use it to describe formation of multiple colonies with sizes consistent with experimental data and to discuss their dissolution.
Comment: 3 figures, 1 Supplementary Material