Issue 18, 2010
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Polymer-induced phase separation in Escherichia coli suspensions†

Jana Schwarz-Linek,a   Alexander Winkler,b   Laurence G. Wilson,a   Nhan T. Pham,a   Tanja Schilling‡b  and  Wilson C. K. Poon*a  

* Corresponding authors

a SUPA and School of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Kings Building, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, UK
E-mail: w.poon@ed.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)-131-6507174
Tel: +44 (0)-131-6505297

b Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität, 55099 Mainz, Germany

Abstract

We studied aggregation and phase separation in suspensions of de-flagellated Escherichia coli (AB1157) in phosphate buffer induced by the anionic polyelectrolyte sodium polystyrene sulfonate. We also performed Monte Carlo simulations of this system based on the Asakura–Oosawa model of colloid–polymer mixtures. The results of these simulations, as well as comparison with previous work on synthetic colloid–polymer mixtures, demonstrate that the role of the polymer is to cause a depletion attraction between the E. coli cells. The implication of these results for understanding the role of (predominantly anionic) extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secreted by bacteria in various natural phenomena such as biofilm formation is discussed.

Graphical abstract: Polymer-induced phase separation in Escherichia coli suspensions

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C0SM00214C
Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Apr 2010
Accepted
25 Jun 2010
First published
05 Aug 2010

Soft Matter, 2010,6, 4540-4549

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Polymer-induced phase separation in Escherichia coli suspensions

J. Schwarz-Linek, A. Winkler, L. G. Wilson, N. T. Pham, T. Schilling and W. C. K. Poon, Soft Matter, 2010, 6, 4540 DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00214C

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