Reverse gear in some bacteria that can be mimicked for bio imaging
- August 1, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
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.