Tilt-induced polar order and topological defects in growing bacterial populations
Tilt-induced polar order and topological defects in growing bacterial populations
Rod-shaped bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, commonly live forming mounded colonies. They initially grow two-dimensionally on a surface and finally achieve three-dimensional growth. While it was recently reported that three-dimensional growth is promoted by topological defects of winding number $+1/2$ in populations of motile bacteria, how cellular alignment plays a …