Swimming Motion of Flagellated Bacteria Under Low Shear Flow Conditions
느린 전단흐름에서 편모운동에 의한 대장균의 거동 특성

Yong-Tae Ahn, Hang-Sik Shin
2011 Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers  
The measurement and prediction of bacterial transport of bacteria in aquatic systems is of fundamental importance to a variety of fields such as groundwater bioremediation ascending urinary tract infection. The motility of pathogenic bacteria is, however, often missing when considering pathogen translocation prediction. Previously, it was reported that flagellated E. coli can translate upstream under low shear flow conditions. The upstream swimming of flagellated microorganisms depends on
more » ... ynamic interaction between cell body and surrounding fluid flow. In this study, we used a breathable microfluidic device to image swimming E. coli at a glass surface under low shear flow condition. The tendency of upstream swimming motion was expressed in terms of 'A' value in parabolic equation (y = Ax 2 + Bx + C). It was observed that high shear flow rate increased the 'A' value as the shear force acting on bacterium increased. Shorter bacterium turned more tightly into the flow as they swim faster and experience less drag force. The result obtained in this study might be relevant in studying the fate and transport of bacterium under low shear flow environment such as irrigation pipe, water distribution system, and urethral catheter.
doi:10.4491/ksee.2011.33.3.191 fatcat:qwn4vyvz4vgslgc747cojrnnc4