Bacteria‐in‐paper, a versatile platform to study bacterial ecology

Abstract

Habitat spatial structure has a profound influence on bacterial life, yet there currently are no low‐cost equipment‐free laboratory techniques to reproduce the intricate structure of natural bacterial habitats. Here, we demonstrate the use of paper scaffolds to create landscapes spatially structured at the scales relevant to bacterial ecology. In paper scaffolds, planktonic bacteria migrate through liquid‐filled pores, while the paper’s cellulose fibres serve as anchor points for sessile colonies (biofilms). Using this novel approach, we explore bacterial colonisation dynamics in different landscape topographies and characterise the community composition of Escherichia coli strains undergoing centimetre‐scale range expansions in habitats structured at the micrometre scale. The bacteria‐in‐paper platform enables quantitative assessment of bacterial community dynamics in complex environments using everyday materials.

Calibrating spatiotemporal models of microbial communities to microscopy data: A review

“…Some investigations of community behaviour have relied on representative snapshots of spatial structure provided by single time point (i.e., end-point) microscopy. This approach is useful when time-lapse approaches may not be feasible, such as in highly structured environments like biofilms and solid matrices [ 68 ], or in microdroplets [ 69 ]. (The recent time-lapse work of Hartmann and colleagues [ 70 ] and Nijjer and colleagues [ 71 ] characterizing biofilm growth is a notable exception and may represent a new paradigm for such measurements.)…”

Fiber-based food packaging materials in view of bacterial growth and survival capacities

“…These studies usually aimed to optimize waste treatment and used packaging material waste, which was physiochemically treated prior to microbial digestion. Other research focused on spatial interactions and therefore growth media were supplemented to promote microbial growth at the expense of assessing growth capacities ( Suominen et al, 1997 ; Hol et al, 2019 ). Numerous studies have been conducted on microbial growth in packaged foods, but to our knowledge, no study has ever examined bacterial growth capacities in the food packaging material itself, although fiber-based packaging materials have been postulated to provide a thriving environment for bacteria ( Brandwein et al, 2016 ).…”