Description of Research Area

Large-Scale Vortex Motion of Bacteria Originated from Characteristics of the Single Gliding Machinery Unit

Research Subject

Characteristic of collectively moving objects, as those in some flocks of bird or schools of fish, is one of the most emerging subjects in non-equilibrium systems. Modeling and theories give us insights that directly connect to practical applications in engineering fields, such as a growth of crystals and a self-organization of materials.

We here focus the gliding movement of bacteria Flavobacterium johnsoniae. We found that billions of bacteria spontaneously form a unique pattern comprised of multiple vortices that continuously rotate in an anticlockwise manner. To address the mechanism of these mysterious behaviors, advanced optical microscopes will be applied to the observation of the movement of single bacteria, and additionally, of the trajectory of single gliding machineries on the cell surface.

Research Partner

OIWA, Kazuhiro

Kobe Advanced ICT Research Center,
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology

NAKANE, Daisuke

Department of Physics, Gakushuin University