| Speaker: | Charles Wolgemuth ( Department of Cell Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut) | |||
| Title: | Elasticity and the Shape and Motion of Bacteria |
| Abstract: |
Cells are elastic objects: In general, if you deform them
and then let go, they relax back to the shape they had before the
deformation. It is therefore clear that understanding the elasticity of
bacteria can tell us something about how bacterial cells maintain their
form. Some bacteria also use this deformability to generate the force
required to move from place to place. This talk will address
applications of the theory of elasticity to two different problems
concerning bacterial morphology and motility. First, we will explore
the unique phenomenon of supercoiling in filamentous bacteria, such as
Bacillus subtilis. I will discuss how growth coupled to the elastic
interaction between the cell wall and the cytoskeleton can lead to
strain in the cytoskeleton which then twists the cell wall. Second, I
will discuss the swimming motions of Spiroplasma and how generation of
bending waves drives motility and also leads to viscotaxis, the strange
ability to swim faster in higher viscosity media.
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