Enhanced propagation of motile bacteria on surfaces due to forward scattering

How motile bacteria move near a surface is a problem of fundamental biophysical interest and is key to the emergence of several phenomena of biological, ecological and medical relevance, including biofilm formation. Solid boundaries can strongly influence a cell's propulsion mechanism, thus leading many flagellated bacteria to describe long circular trajectories stably entrapped by the surface. Experimental studies on near-surface bacterial motility have, however, neglected the fact that real environments have typical microstructures varying on the scale of the cells' motion. Here, we show that randomly distributed micro-obstacles influence the propagation of bacteria on a surface in a non-monotonic way. Instead of hindering it, an optimal, relatively low obstacle density can significantly enhance cells' propagation on surfaces due to individual forward-scattering events. This finding provides new insight on the emerging dynamics of chiral active matter in complex environments and inspires novel routes to control microbial ecology in natural habitats.