Model of the adhesion mechanism (IMAGE)
Caption
Model of the adhesion mechanism by which the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus binds to hydrophobic ('low-energy') surfaces (left) compared with hydrophilic ('high-energy') surfaces (right). On the left, a large number of cell wall molecules (shown here as tiny compressible springs) are involved in binding the cell to the hydrophobic surface. On the hydrophilic surface shown on the right, far fewer molecules are involved. The results were obtained by a team of experimental and theoretical physicists at Saarland University who performed computational Monte Carlo simulations of force-distance data from atomic force microscopy experiments.
Credit
Saarland University
Usage Restrictions
None
License
Licensed content