Emergent mechanics in bacteria-based living matter

Mechanical forces are essential for the function and development of multicellular living systems; examples include heart beating and smooth-muscle contraction that drive large-range transport of body fluids. However, large-scale active mechanical behavior in the microbial world has been much less explored. The lack of knowledge obscures the mechanical interactions between microbial living matter and their physical environment either in natural or in synthetic settings. In this talk I will introduce several mechanisms via which large-scale mechanical behavior can emerge from single-cell motility and mechanochemical coupling in bacteria-based living matter. The potential biological functions of these forms of emergent mechanical behavior will also be discussed. The mechanisms may inspire novel strategies for engineering microbial systems into functional living materials.