Generalized Rayleigh-Plesset Theory for Cell Size Maintenance in Viruses and Bacteria

Autor:	Malmi-Kakkada, Abdul, Thirumalai, D.
Rok vydání:	2019
Předmět:	Physics - Biological Physics Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter Physics - Fluid Dynamics Quantitative Biology - Cell Behavior Quantitative Biology - Subcellular Processes
Druh dokumentu:	Working Paper
Popis:	The envelopes covering bacterial cytoplasm possess remarkable elastic properties. They are rigid enough to resist large pressures while being flexible enough to adapt to growth under environmental constraints. Similarly, the virus shells play an important role in their functions. However, the effects of mechanical properties of the outer shell in controlling and maintaining the sizes of bacteria or viruses are unknown. Here, we present a hydrodynamic "bubbles with shell" model, motivated by the study of bubble stability in fluids, to demonstrate that shell rigidity and turgor pressure control the sizes of bacteria and viruses. A dimensionless compliance parameter, expressed in terms of the elastic modulus of the shell, its thickness and the turgor pressure, determines membrane response to deformation and the size of the organisms. By analyzing experiment data, we show that bacterial and viral sizes correlate with shell elasticity, which plays a critical role in regulating size. Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures in Main Text and Appendix
Databáze:	arXiv
Externí odkaz:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1902.07329 Zobrazit plný text záznamu View this record from Arxiv