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Optimality and constraints of bacterial motility strategies

Bacterial motility

Picture
E. coli run-tumble trajectory. From Taute et al,, Nat. Comm. 6:8776, 2015.
Many bacteria are motile and follow trajectories that exhibit distinct reorientation events like the classic run-and-tumble behavior of E. coli shown here.

What causes the natural diversity of bacterial motility strategies?

Different species show different motility patterns. Why is that? We would like to understand whether the differences observed in nature reflect different physical constraints or adaptations to specific ecological requirements.  
Picture
Example trajectories from six different bacterial species. From Taute et al,, Nat. Comm. 6:8776, 2015.


Tracking bacteria in 3D

Picture
We obtain 3D trajectories for swimming bacteria using a novel 3D tracking method that only requires a standard biological phase contrast microscope.
From Taute et al,, Nat. Comm. 
6:8776, 2015.


Bacteria are tracked by computationally comparing their diffraction rings to a reference library. The ring pattern encodes the z-position.
From Taute et al,, Nat. Comm. 
6:8776, 2015. . 
Picture

Picture
Dozens of bacteria can be tracked simultaneously across a field of view spanning hundreds of micrometers in all 3 dimensions.

© Katja  M. Taute 2016-2020
Except where noted otherwise


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