Emergence of three-dimensional order and structure in growing biofilms
Name
EMS80204.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
2.29 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Hartmann, Raimo
Singh, Praveen K.
Pearce, Philip
Mok, Rachel
Song, Boya
Díaz-Pascual, Francisco
Dunkel, Joern
Drescher, Knut
Date Issued
November 2018
Journal
Nature Physics
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media
Citation
Hartmann, Raimo et al. "Emergence of three-dimensional order and structure in growing biofilms." Nature Physics 15, 3 (November 2015): 251–256 © 2018 The Author(s)
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Surface-attached bacterial biofilms are self-replicating active liquid crystals and the dominant form of bacterial life on Earth 1–4 . In conventional liquid crystals and solid-state materials, the interaction potentials between the molecules that comprise the system determine the material properties. However, for growth-active biofilms it is unclear whether potential-based descriptions can account for the experimentally observed morphologies, and which potentials would be relevant. Here, we have overcome previous limitations of single-cell imaging techniques 5,6 to reconstruct and track all individual cells inside growing three-dimensional biofilms with up to 10,000 individuals. Based on these data, we identify, constrain and provide a microscopic basis for an effective cell–cell interaction potential, which captures and predicts the growth dynamics, emergent architecture and local liquid-crystalline order of Vibrio cholerae biofilms. Furthermore, we show how external fluid flows control the microscopic structure and three-dimensional morphology of biofilms. Our analysis implies that local cellular order and global biofilm architecture in these active bacterial communities can arise from mechanical cell–cell interactions, which cells can modulate by regulating the production of particular matrix components. These results establish an experimentally validated foundation for improved continuum theories of active matter and thereby contribute to solving the important problem of controlling biofilm growth.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0356-9
