Chemotaxis of bacteria in glass capillary arrays. Escherichia coli, motility, microchannel plate, and light scattering
Citation
Berg, H. C., & Turner, L. (1990). Chemotaxis of bacteria in glass capillary arrays. Biophysical Journal, 58(4), 919–930.
- Chemotaxis
- Bacteria
- Glass Capillary Arrays
- Motility
- Diffusion Coefficient (D)
- Drift Velocity (v)
- Attractants
- Repellents
- Mutants
- Light Scattering
Brief
Researchers measured the chemotaxis drift velocities and diffusion coefficients of E. coli and mutants with modified motility by observing the flux of bacteria through a microchannel plate separating two chambers.
Summary
The authors designed a new method for quantifying bacterial chemotaxis by measuring the flux of bacteria swimming through a microchannel plate that separates two chambers.
- Researchers computed diffusion coefficients from bacterial flux observed in the absence of chemical gradients and chemotaxis drift velocities from fluxes observed in the presence of attractants and repellants.
- The study used E. coli and mutants defective in chemotaxis, finding that the chemotaxis drift velocity was much lower in the mutant E. coli strain cheRcheB.
- The authors argue that the new method, which continuously monitors cell counts, offers advantages over existing methods, such as the swarm-plate assay, the capillary assay, and the layered-gradient assay.