Azadeh Samadani

Rapid chemotactic response enables marine bacteria to exploit ephemeral microscale nutrient patches

Because ocean water is typically resource-poor, bacteria may gain significant growth advantages if they can exploit the ephemeral nutrient patches originating from numerous, small sources. Although this interaction has been proposed to enhance biogeochemical transformation rates in the ocean, it remains questionable whether bacteria are able to efficiently use patches before physical mechanisms dissipate them. Here we show that the rapid chemotactic response of the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis substantially enhances its ability to exploit nutrient patches before they dissipate. We investigated two types of patches important in the ocean: nutrient pulses and nutrient plumes, generated for example from lysed algae and sinking organic particles, respectively. We used microfluidic devices to create patches with environmentally realistic dimensions and dynamics. The accumulation of P. haloplanktis in response to a nutrient pulse led to formation of bacterial hot spots within tens of seconds, resulting in a 10-fold higher nutrient exposure for the fastest 20% of the population compared with nonmotile cells. Moreover, the chemotactic response of P. haloplanktis was >10 times faster than the classic chemotaxis model Escherichia coli, leading to twice the nutrient exposure. We demonstrate that such rapid response allows P. haloplanktis to colonize nutrient plumes for realistic particle sinking speeds, with up to a 4-fold nutrient exposure compared with nonmotile cells. These results suggest that chemotactic swimming strategies of marine bacteria in patchy nutrient seascapes exert strong influence on carbon turnover rates by triggering the formation of microscale hot spots of bacterial productivity.

Probing polymerization forces by using actin-propelled lipid vesicles

Actin polymerization provides a powerful propulsion force for numerous types of cell motility. Although tremendous progress has been made in identifying the biochemical components necessary for actin-based motility, the precise biophysical mechanisms of force generation remain unclear. To probe the polymerization forces quantitatively, we introduce an experimental system in which lipid vesicles coated with the Listeria monocytogenes virulence factor ActA are propelled by actin polymerization. The polymerization forces cause significant deformations of the vesicle. We have used these deformations to obtain a spatially resolved measure of the forces exerted on the membrane using a model based on the competition between osmotic pressure and membrane stretching. Our results indicate that actin exerts retractile or propulsive forces depending on the local membrane curvature and that the membrane is strongly bound to the actin gel. These results are consistent with the observed dynamics. After a slow elongation of the vesicle from a spherical shape, the strong bonds between the actin gel and the membrane rupture if the retractile forces exceed a critical value, leading to a rapid release of the vesicles trailing edge.

Neutrophil chemorepulsion in defined interleukin-8 gradients in vitro and in vivo.

We report for the first time that primary human neutrophils can undergo persistent, directionally biased movement away from a chemokine in vitro and in vivo, termed chemorepulsion or fugetaxis. Robust neutrophil chemorepulsion in microfluidic gradients of interleukin‐8 (IL‐8; CXC chemokine ligand 8) was dependent on the absolute concentration of chemokine, CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), and was associated with polarization of cytoskeletal elements and signaling molecules involved in chemotaxis and leading edge formation. Like chemoattraction, chemorepulsion was pertussis toxin‐sensitive and dependent on phosphoinositide‐3 kinase, RhoGTPases, and associated proteins. Perturbation of neutrophil intracytoplasmic cyclic adenosine monophosphate concentrations and the activity of protein kinase C isoforms modulated directional bias and persistence of motility and could convert a chemorepellent to a chemoattractant response. Neutrophil chemorepulsion to an IL‐8 ortholog was also demonstrated and quantified in a rat model of inflammation. The finding that neutrophils undergo chemorepulsion in response to continuous chemokine gradients expands the paradigm by which neutrophil migration is understood and may reveal a novel approach to our understanding of the homeostatic regulation of inflammation.

Angle of repose and segregation in cohesive granular matter.

We study the effect of fluids on the angle of repose and the segregation of granular matter poured into a silo. The experiments are conducted in two regimes where: (i) the volume fraction of the fluid (liquid) is small and it forms liquid bridges between particles thus giving rise to cohesive forces, and (ii) the particles are completely immersed in the fluid. The data is obtained by imaging the pile formed inside a quasi-two-dimensional silo through the transparent glass side walls and using color-coded particles. In the first series of experiments, the angle of repose is observed to increase sharply with the volume fraction of the fluid and then saturates at a value that depends on the size of the particles. We systematically study the effect of viscosity by using water-glycerol mixtures to vary it over at least three orders of magnitude while keeping the surface tension almost constant. Besides surface tension, the viscosity of the fluid is observed to have an effect on the angle of repose and the extent of segregation. In case of bidisperse particles, segregation is observed to decrease and finally saturate depending on the size ratio of the particles and the viscosity of the fluid. The sharp initial change and the subsequent saturation in the extent of segregation and angle of repose occurs over similar volume fraction of the fluid. Preferential clumping of small particles causes layering to occur when the size of the clumps of small particles exceeds the size of large particles. We calculate the azimuthal correlation function of particle density inside the pile to characterize the extent of layering. In the second series of experiments, particles are poured into a container filled with a fluid. Although the angle of repose is observed to be unchanged, segregation is observed to decrease with an increase in the viscosity of the fluid. The viscosity at which segregation decreases to zero depends on the size ratio of the particles.

Maximum angle of stability of a wet granular pile

Anyone who has built a sandcastle recognizes that adding liquid to the sand grains increases the overall stability. However, measurements of the stability in wet granular materials often conflict with theory and with each other1,2,3,4,5,6,7. The friction-based Mohr–Coulomb model3,8 distinguishes between granular friction and interparticle friction, but uses the former without providing a physical mechanism. A frictionless model for the geometric stability of dry particles on the surface of a pile2 is in excellent agreement with experiment. However, the same model applied to wet grains overestimates the stability and predicts no dependence on system size. Here we take a frictionless liquid-bridge model and perform a stability analysis within the pile. We reproduce our experimentally observed dependence of the stability angle on system size, particle size and surface tension. Furthermore, we account for past discrepancies in experimental reports by showing that sidewalls can significantly increase the stability of granular material.

Size segregation of granular matter in silo discharges.

We present an experimental study of segregation of granular matter in a quasi-two-dimensional silo emptying out of an orifice. Size separation is observed when multisized particles are used with the larger particles found in the center of the silo in the region of fastest flow. We use imaging to study the flow inside the silo and quantitatively measure the concentration profiles of bidisperse beads as a function of position and time. The angle of the surface is given by the angle of repose of the particles, and the flow occurs in a few layers only near the top of this inclined surface. The flowing region becomes deeper near the center of the silo and is confined to a parabolic region centered at the orifice which is approximately described by the kinematic model. The experimental evidence suggests that the segregation occurs on the surface and not in the flow deep inside the silo where velocity gradients also are present. We report the time development of the concentrations of the bidisperse particles as a function of size ratios, flow rate, and the ratio of initial mixture. The qualitative aspects of the observed phenomena may be explained by a void filling model of segregation.

Segregation transitions in wet granular matter

We report the effect of interstitial fluid on the extent of segregation by imaging the pile that results after bidisperse color-coded particles are poured into a silo. Segregation is sharply reduced and preferential clumping of small particles is observed when a small volume fraction of fluid V(f) is added. We find that viscous forces in addition to capillary forces have an important effect on the extent of segregation s and the angle of repose straight theta. We show that the sharp initial change and the subsequent saturation in s and straight theta occurs over similar V(f). We also find that a transition back to segregation can occur when the particles are completely immersed in a fluid at low viscosities.

Swarming ring patterns in bacterial colonies exposed to ultraviolet radiation

We report a novel morphological transition in a Bacillus subtilis colony initially growing under ambient conditions, after ultraviolet radiation exposure. The bacteria in the central regions of the colonies are observed to migrate towards the colony edge forming a ring during uniform spatial exposure. When the radiation is switched off, the colonies were observed to grow both inward into the evacuated regions as well as outward indicating that the pattern is not formed due to depletion of nutrients at the center of the colony. We also propose a reaction-diffusion model in which waste-limited chemotaxis initiated by the UV radiation leads to the observed phenomenology.

Shocks in sand flowing in a silo

We study the formation of shocks on the surface of a granular material draining through an orifice at the bottom of a quasi-two-dimensional silo. At high flow rates, the surface is observed to deviate strongly from a smooth linear inclined profile, giving way to a sharp discontinuity in the height of the surface near the bottom of the incline, the typical response of a choking flow such as encountered in a hydraulic jump in a Newtonian fluid like water. We present experimental results that characterize the conditions for the existence of such a jump, describe its structure and give an explanation for its occurrence.

Clustering, Jamming and Segregation in Cohesive Granular Materials

We present a series of experiments to investigate the stability, flow and segregation when liquid bridges or magnetic attraction forces between grains are present. Quantitative data is obtained by high speed and high resolution imaging. First, we measure the angle of repose of a granular pile formed by pouring wet grains in to a quasi-two dimensional silo and compare them to existing models. Second, we measure the size separation of bi-disperse grains as a function of size ratio and viscosity of the liquid. Finally, we introduce a vibro-fluidized system of magnetized particles to study the effect of cohesive forces and inelastic collisions on the formation of clusters and velocity distributions.Copyright