---
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: hybrid
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '21721'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: 'Swimming bacteria move through a fluid by actuating their moving body parts.
They are force-free and can be described as hydrodynamic force dipoles: pushers
or pullers. This modelling description is broadly used in biological physics and
active matter research, and it has successfully predicted, for example, the superfluid
behaviour of suspensions of pushers or the bend instability and emergence of turbulent
flows in active nematics. However, this description accounts only for the translational
motion of the swimming body and neglects the effects of hydrodynamic torque dipoles,
which are relevant to bacteria with rotary motor-driven flagella, such as swimming
Escherichia coli. Here we show that the torque dipole of confined swimming E.
coli can power the persistent rotation of symmetric discs. The torque dipole leads
to a traction force on the discs, an additive mechanism that is both contactless
and independent of the orientation of the bacteria. Our results indicate that
the torque dipole of swimming E. coli is notable in confined geometries, which
is relevant to bacterial transport through porous materials, biofilms and the
development of chiral fluids.'
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: NanoFab
- _id: EM-Fac
acknowledgement: We thank E. Krasnopeeva for help with the bacterial culture, motility
and genetic engineering. We thank Q. Martinet for help with the experimental design,
F. Pertl for atomic force microscopy measurements and S. Hajek for the scanning
electron microscopy imaging. This project has received funding from the European
Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation
programme (VULCAN, 101086998). The views and opinions expressed are, however, those
of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or
the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the
granting authority can be held responsible for them. J.P. thanks the Nanofabrication
and Electron Microscopy Shared Scientific Units of ISTA for support. Open access
funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria).
article_processing_charge: Yes (via OA deal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Daniel B
full_name: Grober, Daniel B
id: c692f879-718d-11ee-81f0-da7caa79c783
last_name: Grober
- first_name: Tanumoy
full_name: Dhar, Tanumoy
last_name: Dhar
- first_name: David
full_name: Saintillan, David
last_name: Saintillan
- first_name: Jérémie A
full_name: Palacci, Jérémie A
id: 8fb92548-2b22-11eb-b7c1-a3f0d08d7c7d
last_name: Palacci
orcid: 0000-0002-7253-9465
citation:
ama: Grober DB, Dhar T, Saintillan D, Palacci JA. The hydrodynamic torque dipole
from rotary bacterial flagella powers symmetric discs. Nature Physics.
2026;22:620-627. doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03189-4
apa: Grober, D. B., Dhar, T., Saintillan, D., & Palacci, J. A. (2026). The hydrodynamic
torque dipole from rotary bacterial flagella powers symmetric discs. Nature
Physics. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03189-4
chicago: Grober, Daniel B, Tanumoy Dhar, David Saintillan, and Jérémie A Palacci.
“The Hydrodynamic Torque Dipole from Rotary Bacterial Flagella Powers Symmetric
Discs.” Nature Physics. Springer Nature, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03189-4.
ieee: D. B. Grober, T. Dhar, D. Saintillan, and J. A. Palacci, “The hydrodynamic
torque dipole from rotary bacterial flagella powers symmetric discs,” Nature
Physics, vol. 22. Springer Nature, pp. 620–627, 2026.
ista: Grober DB, Dhar T, Saintillan D, Palacci JA. 2026. The hydrodynamic torque
dipole from rotary bacterial flagella powers symmetric discs. Nature Physics.
22, 620–627.
mla: Grober, Daniel B., et al. “The Hydrodynamic Torque Dipole from Rotary Bacterial
Flagella Powers Symmetric Discs.” Nature Physics, vol. 22, Springer Nature,
2026, pp. 620–27, doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03189-4.
short: D.B. Grober, T. Dhar, D. Saintillan, J.A. Palacci, Nature Physics 22 (2026)
620–627.
corr_author: '1'
das_tickbox: '1'
dataavailabilitystatement: The datasets generated and analysed during the current
study are openly available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15236674
(ref. 32). All data are released under the CC-BY 4.0 licence. For any further questions
about data access or reuse, please contact the corresponding author.
date_created: 2026-04-12T22:01:51Z
date_published: 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-07-27T12:29:45Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
- '530'
department:
- _id: JePa
doi: 10.1038/s41567-026-03189-4
external_id:
pmid:
- '42006933'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: bb28ed456cdd288d97854b084dd4b2e1
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2026-07-27T12:28:27Z
date_updated: 2026-07-27T12:28:27Z
file_id: '22429'
file_name: 2026_NaturePhysics_Grober.pdf
file_size: 2960392
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file_date_updated: 2026-07-27T12:28:27Z
fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03189-4
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 22'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '04'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 620-627
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: bdac72da-d553-11ed-ba76-eae56e802b74
grant_number: '101086998'
name: 'VULCAN: matter, powered from within'
publication: Nature Physics
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1745-2481
issn:
- 1745-2473
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
researchdata_availability: yes
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
supplementarymaterial: yes
title: The hydrodynamic torque dipole from rotary bacterial flagella powers symmetric
discs
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 22
year: '2026'
...