{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T04:12:36Z","timestamp":1790223156954,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"The Royal Society","issue":"237","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001665","name":"Agence Nationale de la Recherche","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001665","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>In natural environments such as soils or physiological ducts, swimming microorganisms alternate between three- and two-dimensional motion, exhibiting distinct kinematics. This interplay between three- and two-dimensional motion is intensified under confinement, yet its impact on long-range diffusivity remains poorly understood. Bacterial transport is also influenced by internal biochemical processes that determine tumbling rates and can produce long-term memory effects. Here, we combine long-duration three-dimensional tracking of wild-type Escherichia coli between parallel surfaces of separation H with a non-Markovian stochastic model to quantify how confinement regulates spreading. We measure diffusivity and bulk\/surface residence times as a function of H and find excellent agreement with theory, with no need for parameter fitting. We derive an analytical expression for diffusivity, demonstrating that large-scale dispersion is governed by the average bulk residence time that can be obtained from a first-passage problem with two key limits: when H is smaller than, or larger than, the bacterial persistence length. This is the first experimental study to establish a direct link between confinement height and bacterial diffusivity. It provides a general framework for understanding how microbes navigate in geometrically complex environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2025.0857","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T00:13:01Z","timestamp":1777421581000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Confinement controls bacterial spreading at all scales"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-0066-3779","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Renaud","family":"Baillou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ESPCI 1 , , ,","place":["Paris, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["PMMH-UMR7636"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marta Pedrosa","family":"Garcia-Moreno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CY Cergy Paris Universit\u00e9 2 , , ,","place":["Cergy-Pontoise, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["LPTM-UMR8089"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7731-3190","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Quentin","family":"Guigue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ESPCI 1 , , ,","place":["Paris, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["PMMH-UMR7636"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Solene","family":"Menier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ESPCI 1 , , ,","place":["Paris, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["PMMH-UMR7636"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gaspard","family":"Junot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ESPCI 1 , , ,","place":["Paris, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["PMMH-UMR7636"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thierry","family":"Darnige","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ESPCI 1 , , ,","place":["Paris, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["PMMH-UMR7636"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2985-8935","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fernando","family":"Peruani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CY Cergy Paris Universit\u00e9 2 , , ,","place":["Cergy-Pontoise, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["LPTM-UMR8089"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2068-9699","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eric","family":"Clement","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ESPCI 1 , , ,","place":["Paris, \u00cele-de-France, France"],"department":["PMMH-UMR7636"]},{"name":"Institut Universitaire de France 3 , , ,","place":["Paris, \u00cele-de-France, France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026042820125777500_R1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/b97370","volume-title":"E. coli in motion","author":"Berg","year":"2004"},{"key":"2026042820125777500_R2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1128\/JB.01501-06","article-title":"On torque and tumbling in swimming Escherichia coli","volume":"189","author":"Darnton","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. 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