Bio-inspired in silico microswimmer: Run and tumble kinematics

Abstract

We present an in silico microswimmer motivated by peritrichous bacteria, E. coli, which can run and tumble by spinning their flagellar motors counterclockwise (CCW) or clockwise (CW). Runs are the directed movement driven by a flagellar bundle, and tumbles are reorientations of cells caused by some motors' reversals from CCW to CW. In a viscous fluid without obstacles, our simulations reveal that material properties of the hook and the counterrotation of the cell body are important factors for efficient flagellar bundling and that longer hooks in mutant cell models create an instability and disrupt the bundling process, resulting in a limited range of movement. In the presence of a planar wall, we demonstrate that microswimmers can explore environment near surface by making various types of tumble events as they swim close to the surface. In particular, the variation of tumble duration can lead the microswimmer to run in a wide range of direction. However, we find that cells near surface stay close to the surface even after tumbles, which suggests that the tumble motion may not promote cells' escape from the confinement but promote biofilm formation.