Streaming Instability in Growing Cell Populations

Flows of cells growing as a quasimonolayer in a confined space can exhibit streaming, with narrow streams of fast-moving cells flowing around clusters of slowly moving cells. We observed and analyzed this phenomenon experimentally for E. coli bacteria proliferating in a microfluidic cell trap using time-lapse microscopy. We also performed continuum modeling and discrete-element simulations to elucidate the mechanism behind the streaming instability. Our analysis demonstrates that streaming can be explained by the interplay between the slow adaptation of a cell to its local microenvironment and its mobility due to changes of cell-substrate contact forces.