title: A microscale model of bacterial swimming, chemotaxis and substrate transport.
abstract: In this paper, we introduce a mathematical and computational model at the microscale level of bacterial motility and chemotaxis coupled with the advection and diffusion of a biologically reacting substrate. The hydrodynamic interaction of a small bacterial population is explicitly modelled through the use of discrete representations of individual microbes. We use the immersed boundary method to couple microbial motion and the advection-diffusion of substrate with the full incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Simulations using a preliminary two-dimensional model are presented, demonstrating the mutual dependence through the fluid media of several swimming bacteria. A run and tumble mechanism is introduced for simulating the chemotaxis of swimming bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dillon
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fauci
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaver
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D002633:Chemotaxis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological; D009068:Movement