Reverse gear in some bacteria that can be mimicked for bio imaging

Subject: Science and Technology

Context:

Some microorganisms exhibit a unique kind of reversing motion that can be mimicked for drug delivery, bio-imaging.

Indian scientists have found a theoretical model explaining a unique kind of motion, called direction reversing active motion, exhibited by some bacteria that feed on other microorganisms.
This analysis can help in building more efficient artificial micro- and nano-motors used in drug delivery and bio-imaging using the concept to incorporate a reverse gear.
Normally Bacteria move by propelling themselves with a velocity that changes direction randomly, which is called active motion.
Besides bacteria, this kind of motion is found in living systems ranging from cells at the microscopic scale to the flocking of birds and fish schools at the macroscopic scale.
It is also seen in artificial systems, including granular matter, self-catalytic swimmers, and nano-motors.
Some microorganisms, such as predator bacteria Myxococcus Xanthus and saprotrophic bacteria Pseudomonas putida, exhibit a unique kind of reversing active motion, whereby, in addition to a diffusive change of direction, the motion also completely reverses its direction intermittently. However, very little has been understood theoretically about the statistical properties of such motion.

Bioimaging:

Bioimaging relates to methods that non-invasively visualize biological processes in real-time.
Bioimaging aims to interfere as little as possible with life processes and it is often used to gain information on the 3-D structure of the observed specimen from the outside, i.e., without physical interference.