Active Transport in Complex Environments

Abstract

The ability of many living systems to actively self-propel underlies critical biomedical, environmental, and industrial processes. While such active transport is well-studied in uniform settings, environmental complexities such as geometric constraints, mechanical cues, and external stimuli such as chemical gradients and fluid flow can strongly influence transport. In this chapter, we describe recent progress in the study of active transport in such complex environments, focusing on two prominent biological systems—bacteria and eukaryotic cells—as archetypes of active matter. We review research findings highlighting how environmental factors can fundamentally alter cellular motility, hindering or promoting active transport in unexpected ways, and giving rise to fascinating behaviors such as directed migration and large-scale clustering. In parallel, we describe specific open questions and promising avenues for future research. Furthermore, given the diverse forms of active matter—ranging from enzymes and driven biopolymer assemblies, to microorganisms and synthetic microswimmers, to larger animals and even robots—we also describe connections to other active systems as well as more general theoretical/computational models of transport processes in complex environments.