Active Matter Invasion

Abstract

Biological active materials such as bacterial biofilms and eukaryotic cells thrive in confined micro-spaces. Here, we show through numerical simulations that confinement can serve as a mechanical guidance to achieve distinct modes of collective invasion when combined with growth dynamics and the intrinsic activity of biological materials. We assess the dynamics of the growing interface and classify these collective modes of invasion based on the activity of the constituent particles of the growing matter. While at small and moderate activities the active material grows as a coherent unit, we find that blobs of active material collectively detach from the cohort above a well-defined activity threshold. We further characterise the mechanical mechanisms underlying the crossovers between different modes of invasion and quantify their impact on the overall invasion speed.

arXiv comment13 pages (incl supplement), 5 figures + 3 supplementary figures, 6 movies as ancillary files. Higher quality movies available under https://doi.org/10.1039/c9sm01210a

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Submersed Micropatterned Structures Control Active Nematic Flow, Topology and Concentration
• Active nematics with anisotropic friction: the decisive role of the flow aligning parameter
• Propagation of active nematic-isotropic interfaces on substrates
• Biofilm Growth Under Elastic Confinement
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• Supramolecular assemblies in active motor-filament systems: micelles, bilayers, and foams
• Modeling growing confluent tissues using a lattice Boltzmann method: interface stability and fluctuations
• Yielding in dense active matter