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. 1995 Oct;61(10):3567–3572. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.10.3567-3572.1995

Unidirectional motility of Escherichia coli in restrictive capillaries.

Z Liu 1, K D Papadopoulos 1
PMCID: PMC167651  PMID: 7486991

Abstract

In a 6-microns capillary filled with buffer and in the absence of any chemotactic stimuli, Escherichia coli K-12 cells swim persistently in only one direction. This behavior of E. coli can be simply explained by means of the length and relative rigidity of their flagella. Single-cell motility parameters--swimming speed, turn angle, and run length time--were measured. Compared with the motility parameters measured in bulk phase, turn angle was influenced because of the effect of the geometrical restriction.

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Selected References

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