{
  "abstract": "Charge neutrality is widely assumed in living cells, yet this approximation breaks down in micron-scale bacteria where charge imbalance and spatial confinement are significant. Using Poisson-Nernst-Planck modeling, we show that unequal cation-anion effectiveness and bounded geometry generate extended intracellular diffuse layers and steady electric fields. We demonstrate that such fields couple directly to intracellular chemical waves, focusing on the Min-protein oscillator of Escherichia coli. Electric-field-driven transport skews the dispersion-mode structure, induces mode crossings, and selectively amplifies Turing and Hopf-Turing instabilities over intermediate length scales, constraining the permitted {omega}-k spectrum and setting optimal wavelengths and modal growth-rate velocities. Experiments in wild-type, anucleate, and antibiotic-treated cells, together with simulations of nucleoid-dependent charge density and field strength, quantitatively validate these predictions and explain observed pattern asymmetries and frequency modulations. Crucially, asymmetric wave-field coupling promotes quasi-periodicity through controlled mode competition, enhancing robustness to noise, cell-size variation, and growth. These findings identify intracellular electric fields as active regulators of biochemical patterning and suggest a general role for wave-field interactions in cellular self-organization.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Academia Sinica"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "J.-P. Shen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "C.-F. Chou"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/587b5k7bts82c.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.05.749092",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.05.749092v1.full",
  "id": "587b5k7bts82c",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.05.749092v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "biophysics"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1705|Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212363827",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.05.749092v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-05",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/587b5k7bts82c.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:45Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.05.749092",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.05.749092v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "biorxiv:biophysics",
      "subfield": "biophysics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Evidence of Chemical Wave-Electric Field Interaction in Bacterial Cells",
  "title_text": "Evidence of Chemical Wave-Electric Field Interaction in Bacterial Cells",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:45Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/587b5k7bts82c",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}