The role of surface adhesion on the macroscopic wrinkling of biofilms

Geisel, Steffen; Secchi, Eleonora; Vermant, Jan

doi:10.7554/elife.76027

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…(2) the bottom glass coverslip has a negative surface charge whereas PDMS surface is close to neutral, so negatively charged bacterial surfaces tend to attach better to PDMS surfaces. Consistently, a previous study also observed bio lm observation on the PDMS surfaces but not on the glass surfaces 41 .…”

Section: Bio Lm Development On the Sidewalls And Top Surfaces Of The ...supporting

confidence: 89%

Microfluidic investigation of the impacts of flow fluctuations on the development of Pseudomonas putida biofilms

Wei

Yang

2023

Preprint

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Biofilms play critical roles in wastewater treatment, bioremediation, and medical-device-related infections. Understanding the dynamics of biofilm formation and growth is essential for controlling and exploiting their properties. However, the majority of current studies have focused on the impact of steady flows on biofilm growth, while flow fluctuations are commonly encountered in natural and engineered systems such as water pipes and blood vessels. Here, we investigated the effects of flow fluctuations on Pseudomonas putida biofilm growth through systematic microfluidic experiments and developed a theoretical model to account for such effects. Our experimental results revealed that biofilm growth under fluctuating flow conditions followed three phases: lag phase, exponential phase, and fluctuation phase. In contrast, we observed the four phases of biofilm growth under steady-flow conditions, i.e., lag, exponential, stationary, and decline phases. Furthermore, we demonstrated that low-frequency flow fluctuations promoted biofilm growth, while high-frequency fluctuations inhibited its development. We attributed the contradictory impacts of flow fluctuations on biofilm growth to the adjust time needed for biofilm to grow. Based on the experimental measurements, we developed a theoretical model to predict the growth of biofilm thickness under fluctuating flow conditions. Our study provides insights into the mechanisms underlying biofilm development under fluctuating flows and can inform the design of strategies to control biofilm formation in diverse natural and engineered systems.

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Section: Bio Lm Development On the Sidewalls And Top Surfaces Of The ...supporting

confidence: 89%

Microfluidic investigation of the impacts of flow fluctuations on the development of Pseudomonas putida biofilms

Wei

Yang

2023

Preprint

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“…Many other biofilms, such as those used in moving‐bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) (Bassin et al, 2012), are beneficial because they remove contaminants and excess nutrients from wastewater (Zhu et al, 2010). Biofilms can form different morphologies, including thin film structures (Coyte et al, 2017), wrinkles (Geisel et al, 2022), ripples (Nguyen et al, 2005), and streamers (Drescher et al, 2013; Parvinzadeh Gashti et al, 2015). Fundamental understanding of biofilm morphology is critical to predict and manipulate the function of biofilms (Recupido et al, 2020; Trejo et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of hydrodynamic conditions and microscale surface roughness on the critical shear stress to develop and thickness of early‐stage Pseudomonas putida biofilms

Wei

Yang

2023

Biotech & Bioengineering

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Biofilms can increase pathogenic contamination of drinking water, cause biofilm‐related diseases, alter the sediment erosion rate, and degrade contaminants in wastewater. Compared with mature biofilms, biofilms in the early‐stage have been shown to be more susceptible to antimicrobials and easier to remove. Mechanistic understanding of physical factors controlling early‐stage biofilm growth is critical to predict and control biofilm development, yet such understanding is currently incomplete. Here, we reveal the impacts of hydrodynamic conditions and microscale surface roughness on the development of early‐stage Pseudomonas putida biofilm through a combination of microfluidic experiments, numerical simulations, and fluid mechanics theories. We demonstrate that early‐stage biofilm growth is suppressed under high flow conditions and that the local velocity for early‐stage P. putida biofilms (growth time < 14 h) to develop is about 50 μm/s, which is similar to P. putida's swimming speed. We further illustrate that microscale surface roughness promotes the growth of early‐stage biofilms by increasing the area of the low‐flow region. Furthermore, we show that the critical average shear stress, above which early‐stage biofilms cease to form, is 0.9 Pa for rough surfaces, three times as large as the value for flat or smooth surfaces (0.3 Pa). The important control of flow conditions and microscale surface roughness on early‐stage biofilm development, characterized in this study, will facilitate future predictions and managements of early‐stage P. putida biofilm development on the surfaces of drinking water pipelines, bioreactors, and sediments in aquatic environments.

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“…To best of our knowledge, no other study presented a synthetic oscillator capable of transforming such dynamic phenomena into spatial patterns. Interestingly, spatial period-doublings have been used to describe wrinkle formation [52, 53] [54] occurring in skin folding [55], mucous membranes [56], the convoluted shape of the brain [57, 58] and biofilm formation [59, 60]. Our circuit could thus be used to generate differential stress conditions in a cell layer in order to reproduce and control wrinkle patterns.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From resonance to chaos: modulating spatiotemporal patterns through a synthetic optogenetic oscillator

Park,

Holló,

Schaerli

2024

Preprint

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Oscillations are a recurrent phenomenon in biological systems across scales, including circadian clocks, metabolic oscillations and embryonic genetic oscillators. Despite their fundamental significance in biology, deciphering core principles of biological oscillators is very challenging due to the multiscale complexity of genetic networks and the difficulty in perturbing organisms in vivo. In this study, we tackle this challenge by re-designing the well-characterised synthetic oscillator, known as 'repressilator' in Escherichia coli and controlling it using optogenetics, thus introducing the 'optoscillator'. When we apply periodic light pulses, the optoscillator behaves as a forced oscillator. Bacterial colonies harboring synthetic oscillators manifest oscillations as spatial ring patterns. Leveraging this feature, we systematically investigate the number, intensity and sharpness of the rings under different regimes of light exposure. By integrating experimental approaches with mathematical modeling, we show that this simple oscillatory circuit can generate complex dynamics that, depending on the external periodic forcing, are transformed into distinct spatial patterns. We report the observation of synchronisation, resonance, undertone and period doubling. Furthermore, we present evidence supporting the existence of a chaotic regime. This work highlights the intricate spatiotemporal patterns accessible by synthetic oscillators and underscores the potential of our approach in understanding the underlying principles governing biological oscillations.

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The role of surface adhesion on the macroscopic wrinkling of biofilms

Cited by 15 publications

References 75 publications

Microfluidic investigation of the impacts of flow fluctuations on the development of Pseudomonas putida biofilms

Microfluidic investigation of the impacts of flow fluctuations on the development of Pseudomonas putida biofilms

Impacts of hydrodynamic conditions and microscale surface roughness on the critical shear stress to develop and thickness of early‐stage Pseudomonas putida biofilms

From resonance to chaos: modulating spatiotemporal patterns through a synthetic optogenetic oscillator

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