Wetting-coupled phase separation as an energetic mechanism for active bacterial adhesion
Advanced Materials Thrust, Function Hub, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)（香港科技大学（广州）功能枢纽先进材料交叉中心）；Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences & State Key Laboratory of Mechanism and Quality of Chinese Medicine, University of Macau（澳门大学中国医药研究国家重点实验室及中医药研究所）；Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau（澳门大学健康科学学院药学系）；Zhuhai UM Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Macau（澳门大学珠海科学技术研究院）；Platform for Structure and Functional Technology of Neural Network, Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology（广东省智能科学技术研究院神经网络结构与功能技术平台）
The rapid adhesion of motile bacteria from dilute suspensions poses a fundamental non-equilibrium problem: hydrodynamic interactions bias bacterial motion near surfaces without generating stable confinement, while electrostatic interactions are predominantly repulsive. Here, combining experiments on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in a polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two-phase system with large-scale hydrodynamic simulations, we identify wetting-coupled liquid--liquid phase separation (LLPS) as an energetic trapping mechanism for bacterial adhesion. When bacteria partition into a phase that preferentially wets the substrate, interfacial free-energy minimization creates a deep energetic trap that stabilizes adhesion and induces lateral clustering via capillary interactions. Crucially, bacterial motility plays a dual role: at low phase volume fractions, activity enhances transport into the wetting layer and promotes accumulation, whereas at higher phase volumes it suppresses adhesion through the formation of self-spinning droplets that generate hydrodynamic lift opposing interfacial trapping. Our results establish wetting-coupled LLPS as a generic physical route governing interfacial organization in active suspensions. This provides a unified energetic framework for bacterial adhesion in complex fluids, with broad implications for deciphering bacterial-cell interactions and controlling biofilm formation.
Active wetting/de-wetting of focal adhesions on viscoelastic substrates
University of Belgrade（贝尔格莱德大学）；Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute（维克多·张心脏研究所）；University of New South Wales（新南威尔士大学）；University of Glasgow（格拉斯哥大学）；Lancaster University（兰开斯特大学）
Active motility and wetting cooperatively regulate liquid-liquid phase separation
Advanced Materials Thrust, Function Hub, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)（香港科技大学（广州）功能枢纽先进材料 thrust）；Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences & State Key Laboratory of Mechanism and Quality of Chinese Medicine, University of Macau（澳门大学中医药学院及中药质量研究国家重点实验室）；Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau（澳门大学健康科学学院药学系）；Zhuhai UM Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Macau（澳门大学珠海科学技术研究院）；Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo（东京大学先进科学技术研究中心）；Department of Fundamental Engineering, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo（东京大学工业科学研究所基础工程系）
Soochow University（苏州大学）；Department of Physics, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology（以色列理工学院物理系）；Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院物理系）
Interface crossing behavior of prolate microswimmers: thermo and hydrodynamics
Indian Institute of Technology Jammu（印度理工学院詹穆分校）；Birla Institute of Technology Pilani, Hyderabad Campus（比拉理工学院皮拉尼校区海得拉巴）；Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, LOMA, UMR 5798（波尔多大学，法国国家科学研究中心，LOMA实验室）
Microswimmers create bicontinuous emulsions in binary fluids
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur（印度理工学院卡拉格普尔分校）；EMBL Barcelona（欧洲分子生物学实验室巴塞罗那分部）；Barcelona Collaboratorium for Modelling and Predictive Biology（巴塞罗那建模与预测生物合作组织）；Univ. Bordeaux（波尔多大学）
