BIOPHYSICAL THEORY AND MODELING |
Mesoscopic Modeling of Bacterial Flagellar Microhydrodynamics
Yeshitila Gebremichael 1, Gary S. Ayton 1 and Gregory A. Voth 1*
1 University of Utah
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: voth{at}chem.utah.edu.
Submitted on June 14, 2006
Revised on August 4, 2006
Accepted on 11 August 2006
 |
Abstract |
|---|
A particle-based hybrid method of Elastic Network Model and Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics has been employed to describe bacterial flagellum in a viscous hydrodynamic environment. The method explicitly models the two aspects of bacterial propulsion that involve flagellar flexibility and long-range hydrodynamic interaction of low Reynolds number flow. The model further incorporates the molecular organization of the flagellar filament at a coarse-grained level in terms of the eleven protofilaments. Each of these protofilaments is represented by a collection of material points that represent the flagellin proteins. A computational model of a single bacterial flagellum is presented, and the propulsive dynamics and the flow fields generated by the motion of the flagellum are examined. The nature of flagellar deformation and the influence of hydrodynamics in determining the shape of deformations are also examined.
Key Words:
bacterial flagellum, elastic network model, flagellin proteins, mesoscopic simulation, smooth particle hydrodynamics
