Advances in Biological Liquid Crystals

Abstract

Biological liquid crystals, a rich set of soft materials with rod‐like structures widely existing in nature, possess typical lyotropic liquid crystalline phase properties both in vitro (e.g., cellulose, peptides, and protein assemblies) and in vivo (e.g., cellular lipid membrane, packed DNA in bacteria, and aligned fibroblasts). Given the ability to undergo phase transition in response to various stimuli, numerous practices are exercised to spatially arrange biological liquid crystals. Here, a fundamental understanding of interactions between rod‐shaped biological building blocks and their orientational ordering across multiple length scales is addressed. Discussions are made with regard to the dependence of physical properties of nonmotile objects on the first‐order phase transition and the coexistence of multi‐phases in passive liquid crystalline systems. This work also focuses on how the applied physical stimuli drives the reorganization of constituent passive particles for a new steady‐state alignment. A number of recent progresses in the dynamics behaviors of active liquid crystals are presented, and particular attention is given to those self‐propelled animate elements, like the formation of motile topological defects, active turbulence, correlation of orientational ordering, and cellular functions. Finally, future implications and potential applications of the biological liquid crystalline materials are discussed.

Relaxation dynamics in bio-colloidal cholesteric liquid crystals confined to cylindrical geometry

“…The first two regimes have been partially understood whereas the last one, in which a liquid-crystalline phase emerges, has not been adequately addressed, particularly for BCLLCs [32][33][34] . The difficulty in the estimation of viscoelastic properties of BCLLCs stems from the fact that standard techniques for viscoelastic properties measurements are based on applying a magnetic or electrical field to reorient mesogenic constituents [35][36][37][38][39] and, in general, these techniques are not readily applicable for BCLLCs due to their low diamagnetic and dielectric susceptibilities 39,40 . In this case, the convenient alternative is flow alignment 1,[41][42][43] .…”

Freeform, Reconfigurable Embedded Printing of All‐Aqueous 3D Architectures

“…[5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The major challenge is to transform techniques developed for resins and thermoplastics to print delicate biological materials; the aim is to impart functionalities by accurately and precisely replicating the vascularized multiscale architecture of biological tissues. [5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The major challenge is to transform techniques developed for resins and thermoplastics to print delicate biological materials; the aim is to impart functionalities by accurately and precisely replicating the vascularized multiscale architecture of biological tissues.…”

Introductory Chapter: Nematic Liquid Crystals

“…Hence, the molecules that form LC mesophases (intermediate states between the crystalline and liquid phase) display a unique combination of properties between long-range order and mobility, the basis of the numerous technical applications [1]. However, this combination constitutes as well an essential requirement for living matter, considering liquid crystals play a significant role in biomolecule's assembling, e.g., smectic phases (in phospholipid bilayer in the cell, protein filament), columnar phases (in DNA), or nematic phases (in chitin, collagen, cellulose, viruses, and silk) [2,3].…”