Condensed Matter Theory

Abstract:

Monotrichous bacteria on surfaces exhibit complex spinning movements. Such spinning motility is often a part of the surface detachment launch sequence of these cells. To understand the impact of spinning motility on bacterial surface interactions, we develop a hydrodynamic model of a surface-bound bacterium, which reproduces behaviours that we observe in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shewanella oneidensis and Vibrio cholerae, and provides a detailed dictionary for connecting observed spinning behaviour to bacteria-surface interactions. Our findings indicate that the fraction of the flagellar filament adhered to the surface, the rotation torque of this appendage, the flexibility of the flagellar hook and the shape of the bacterial cell dictate the likelihood that a microbe will detach and the optimum orientation that it should have during detachment. These findings are important for understanding species-specific reversible attachment, the key transition event between the planktonic and biofilm lifestyle for motile, rod-shaped organisms.

Abstract:

By using oxDNA, a coarse-grained nucleotide-level model of DNA, we are able to directly simulate the self-assembly of a small 384-base-pair origami from single-stranded scaffold and staple strands in solution. In general, we see attachment of new staple strands occurring in parallel, but with cooperativity evident for the binding of the second domain of a staple if the adjacent junction is already partially formed. For a system with exactly one copy of each staple strand, we observe a complete assembly pathway in an intermediate temperature window; at low temperatures successful assembly is prevented by misbonding while at higher temperature the free-energy barriers to assembly become too large for assembly on our simulation time scales. For high-concentration systems involving a large staple strand excess, we never see complete assembly because there are invariably instances where two copies of the same staple both bind to the scaffold, creating a kinetic trap that prevents the complete binding of either staple. This mutual staple blocking could also lead to aggregates of partially formed origamis in real systems, and helps to rationalize certain successful origami design strategies.