4.8 Article

Magnetotactic bacteria in a droplet self-assemble into a rotary motor

Journal

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 10, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13031-6

Keywords

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Funding

  1. ANR-2015 BacFlow [ANR-15-CE30-0013]
  2. Franco-Chilean EcosSud Collaborative Program [C16E03]
  3. Fondecyt [1180791, 1170411]
  4. Millenium Nucleus Physics of Active Matter of the Millenium Scientific Initiative of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism (Chile)

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From intracellular protein trafficking to large-scale motion of animal groups, the physical concepts driving the self-organization of living systems are still largely unraveled. Self-organization of active entities, leading to novel phases and emergent macroscopic properties, recently shed new light on these complex dynamical processes. Here we show that under the application of a constant magnetic field, motile magnetotactic bacteria confined in water-in-oil droplets self-assemble into a rotary motor exerting a torque on the external oil phase. A collective motion in the form of a large-scale vortex, reversable by inverting the field direction, builds up in the droplet with a vorticity perpendicular to the magnetic field. We study this collective organization at different concentrations, magnetic fields and droplet radii and reveal the formation of two torque-generating areas close to the droplet interface. We characterize quantitatively the mechanical energy extractable from this new biological and self-assembled motor.

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