dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaWetting-coupled phase separation as an energetic mechanism for active bacterial adhesion
| Authors | Dixi Yang, Anheng Wang, Jia Huang, Xiaofeng Zhuo, Chunming Wang, Hajime Tanaka, Jiaxing Yuan |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | 2601.06754vv1 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06754 |
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Abstract
The rapid adhesion of motile bacteria from dilute suspensions poses a fundamental non-equilibrium problem: hydrodynamic interactions bias bacterial motion near surfaces without generating stable confinement, while electrostatic interactions are predominantly repulsive. Here, combining experiments on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in a polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two-phase system with large-scale hydrodynamic simulations, we identify wetting-coupled liquid--liquid phase separation (LLPS) as an energetic trapping mechanism for bacterial adhesion. When bacteria partition into a phase that preferentially wets the substrate, interfacial free-energy minimization creates a deep energetic trap that stabilizes adhesion and induces lateral clustering via capillary interactions. Crucially, bacterial motility plays a dual role: at low phase volume fractions, activity enhances transport into the wetting layer and promotes accumulation, whereas at higher phase volumes it suppresses adhesion through the formation of self-spinning droplets that generate hydrodynamic lift opposing interfacial trapping. Our results establish wetting-coupled LLPS as a generic physical route governing interfacial organization in active suspensions. This provides a unified energetic framework for bacterial adhesion in complex fluids, with broad implications for deciphering bacterial-cell interactions and controlling biofilm formation.
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"abstract": "The rapid adhesion of motile bacteria from dilute suspensions poses a fundamental non-equilibrium problem: hydrodynamic interactions bias bacterial motion near surfaces without generating stable confinement, while electrostatic interactions are predominantly repulsive. Here, combining experiments on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in a polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two-phase system with large-scale hydrodynamic simulations, we identify wetting-coupled liquid--liquid phase separation (LLPS) as an energetic trapping mechanism for bacterial adhesion. When bacteria partition into a phase that preferentially wets the substrate, interfacial free-energy minimization creates a deep energetic trap that stabilizes adhesion and induces lateral clustering via capillary interactions. Crucially, bacterial motility plays a dual role: at low phase volume fractions, activity enhances transport into the wetting layer and promotes accumulation, whereas at higher phase volumes it suppresses adhesion through the formation of self-spinning droplets that generate hydrodynamic lift opposing interfacial trapping. Our results establish wetting-coupled LLPS as a generic physical route governing interfacial organization in active suspensions. This provides a unified energetic framework for bacterial adhesion in complex fluids, with broad implications for deciphering bacterial-cell interactions and controlling biofilm formation.",
"arxiv_id": "2601.06754",
"authors": [
"Dixi Yang",
"Anheng Wang",
"Jia Huang",
"Xiaofeng Zhuo",
"Chunming Wang",
"Hajime Tanaka",
"Jiaxing Yuan"
],
"categories": [
"cond-mat.soft"
],
"license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"title": "Wetting-coupled phase separation as an energetic mechanism for active bacterial adhesion",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06754",
"version": "v1"
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