Bacteria as living patchy colloids: Phenotypic heterogeneity in surface adhesion

Vissers, Teun; Brown, A. G.; Koumakis, Nick; Dawson, Angela; Hermes, Michiel; Schwarz-Linek, Jana; Schofield, Andrew B.; French, Joseph M.; Koutsos, Vasileios; Arlt, Jochen; Martinez, Vincent A.; Poon, Wilson

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao1170

Cited by 55 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…We show that strong interactions with the surface provides a high level of heterogeneity. Such heterogeneity [33] is key in maintaining the integrity of the biofilm of other bacteria [34], in immune evasion [35] and in some metastatic process [36]. This suggests that the relevance of heterogeneous phenotypes among a given strain may be a generic feature of active matter whose emergence shall be further investigated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clustering of bacteria with heterogeneous motility

2020

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We study the clustering of a model cyanobacterium Synechocystis into microcolonies. The bacteria are allowed to diffuse onto surfaces of different hardness, and interact with the others by aggregation and detachment. We find that soft surfaces give rise to more microcolonies than hard ones. This effect is related to the amount of heterogeneity of bacteria's dynamics as given by the proportion of motile cells. A kinetic model that emphasizes specific interactions between cells, complemented by extensive numerical simulations considering various amounts of motility, describes the experimental results adequately. The high proportion of motile cells enhances dispersion rather than aggregation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clustering of bacteria with heterogeneous motility

2020

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“…It has been shown that isogenic populations of bacterial cells display significant phenotypic variation such as in growth, stress response, and cell morphologies even under same environmental conditions, which result partially from both stochasticity in gene expression and also fluctuations in other cellular components (Elowitz et al, 2002 ; Ackermann, 2015 ; Evans and Ling, 2018 ). For example, T. Vissers et al showed a strong phenotypic heterogeneity in the surface attachment of E. coli cells (Vissers et al, 2018 ). They found that among all analyzed cells, some cells remained non-attached while others could adhere to the surface but with varied adhesion strength.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overshadow Effect of Psl on Bacterial Response to Physiochemically Distinct Surfaces Through Motility-Based Characterization

Zhai

Zhang

et al. 2018

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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Biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are ubiquitously found on surfaces of many medical devices, which are the major cause of hospital-acquired infections. A large amount of work has been focused on bacterial attachment on surfaces. However, how bacterial cells evolve on surfaces after their attachment is the key to get better understanding and further control of biofilm formation. In this work, by employing both single-cell- and collective-motility of cells, we characterized the bacterial surface movement on physiochemically distinct surfaces. The measurement of cell surface motility showed consistent results that gold and especially platinum surfaces displayed a stronger capability in microcolony formation than polyvinyl chloride and polycarbonate surfaces. More interestingly, we found that overproduction of Psl led to a narrower variance in cell surface motility among tested surfaces, indicating an overshadow effect of Psl for bacteria by screening the influence of physicochemical properties of solid surfaces. Our results provide insights into how Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells adapt their motion to physiochemically distinct surfaces, and thus would be beneficial for developing new anti-biofouling techniques in biomedical engineering.

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“…Bacterial adhesion on abiotic surfaces is the first step in biofilm initiation; thus, elucidating the events that influence adhesion is pivotal to design strategies that can prevent biofilm-associated infections. Bacterial adhesion is a complex process known to depend on several physicochemical factors, including the biological properties of the microorganism and the material interface itself 6,7 . Bacteria adhesion mechanisms have been associated with various adhesins and organelles (e.g., fimbriae, flagella).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bacteria adhesion mechanisms have been associated with various adhesins and organelles (e.g., fimbriae, flagella). Moreover, protein complexes located at the outer membrane can also adhere directly to abiotic surfaces without the need of a pre-conditioned protein layer 6,8 . The material physicochemical properties that have been shown to influence bacterial adhesion include surface chemistry, surface charge density, surface energy, and more recently, the topographical features and the mechanical properties of the material 7,9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

E. coliadhesion and biofilm formation on polydimethylsiloxane are independent of substrate stiffness

Arias

Devorkin

Civantos

et al. 2020

Preprint

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AbstractBacterial adhesion and biofilm formation on the surface of biomedical devices is a detrimental process that compromises patient safety and material functionality. Several physicochemical factors are involved in biofilm growth, including the surface properties. Among those, material stiffness has recently been suggested to influence microbial adhesion and biofilm growth in a variety of polymers and hydrogels. However, no clear consensus exists about the role of material stiffness on biofilm initiation and whether very compliant substrates are deleterious to bacterial cell adhesion. Here, by systematically tuning substrate topography and stiffness while keeping the surface free energy of polydimethylsiloxane substrates constant, we show that topographical patterns at the micron and submicron scale impart unique properties to the surface that are independent of the material stiffness. The current work provides a better understanding of the role of material stiffness on bacterial physiology and may constitute a cost-effective and simple strategy to reduce bacterial attachment and biofilm growth even in very compliant and hydrophobic polymers.

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Bacteria as living patchy colloids: Phenotypic heterogeneity in surface adhesion

Abstract: Genetically identical bacteria possess varying numbers of surface-adhering patches.

Cited by 55 publications

References 61 publications

Clustering of bacteria with heterogeneous motility

Clustering of bacteria with heterogeneous motility

Overshadow Effect of Psl on Bacterial Response to Physiochemically Distinct Surfaces Through Motility-Based Characterization

E. coliadhesion and biofilm formation on polydimethylsiloxane are independent of substrate stiffness

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