(234c) Influence of Cell Lengths on Surface Drag in Motile Bacteria

Bacterial surface motility is an important factor in host-colonization and infections. Bacteria swim at low Reynold’s numbers, where viscous forces dominate. Consequently, the cell length significantly impacts the surface drag experienced by motile cells near substrates, with longer cells experiencing higher drag. We are interested in determining how cells with widely differing cell lengths overcome drag. To study these strategies, we employed mutants that exhibited variable cell morphologies and tested motility on agar media. For each mutant, the surface drag was varied. Our measurements indicated a positive correlation between motility and cell lengths. We will discuss our findings and present additional evidence for this surprising observation. We anticipate that these studies will provide key insight into pathogen-surface interactions.