Is E. coli good at chemotaxis?

Abstract

Bacteria seem masters of chemotaxis, yet recent work suggests otherwise. Hudson Mattingly and colleagues (Nature Physics, 2026) argue that Escherichia coli uses only a small fraction of the sensory information available at its surface, challenging the long-held view that bacterial chemotaxis operates near physical sensing limits. This article offers a brief conceptual discussion of their findings, placing them in the context of classical chemotaxis models, robustness to noise, and broader perspectives drawn from physics, biology, and Greek mythology.

Figures (1)

• Figure 1: Sisyphus at the microscale. Like the mythical king, a bacterium struggles uphill—pushing against molecular noise and random reorientations. Unlike Sisyphus, however, it manages to steadily inch its way up the gradient. Hand drawing by Robert Endres.