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SUMMARY:Helices under the microscope: What geometry can tells us about the
  bundling and tangling of bacterial flagella - Maria Tatulea-Codrean (Univ
 ersity of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20190228T130000Z
DTEND:20190228T140000Z
UID:TALK120730@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Anne Herrmann
DESCRIPTION:Mechanics plays an important role in cellular biology. Motile 
 bacteria\, for example\, exploit the rotation of helical filaments to self
 -propel in fluids\, and a critical number of mechanical processes are at t
 he heart of their ability to swim and change direction. Here we focus on t
 he rapid bundling and unbundling of helical flagellar filaments\, an essen
 tial component to the run-and-tumble motion of bacteria equipped with many
  flagella\, but whose physical mechanism is not yet fully understood. In t
 his biolunch\, I will discuss the helical geometry of bacterial flagella a
 nd the consequences it has for bacterial motility\, namely for the freedom
  of bundling and the potential risk of tangling. Surprisingly\, the mean n
 umber of flagella per bacterium observed in E. coli and S. typhimurium is 
 very close to the threshold for tangle-free swimming predicted by our theo
 retical model. This and other findings lead us to the conclusion that the 
 geometric properties of bacterial flagella are\, in fact\, well-suited for
  a life of constant bundling and unbundling\, but luckily no tangling. \n\
 n\n
LOCATION:MR11\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Camb
 ridge
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