Flow-Induced Symmetry Breaking in Growing Bacterial Biofilms

Bacterial biofilms represent a major form of microbial life on Earth and serve as a model active nematic system, in which activity results from growth of the rod-shaped bacterial cells. In their natural environments, ranging from human organs to industrial pipelines, biofilms have evolved to grow ro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2019-12, Vol.123 (25), p.258101-258101, Article 258101
Main Authors: Pearce, Philip, Song, Boya, Skinner, Dominic J, Mok, Rachel, Hartmann, Raimo, Singh, Praveen K, Jeckel, Hannah, Oishi, Jeffrey S, Drescher, Knut, Dunkel, Jörn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria
Biofilms
Biofilms - growth & development
Broken symmetry
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
Continuum modeling
Fluid flow
Mathematical analysis
Matrix methods
Microfluidics
Microorganisms
Models, Biological
Multiscale analysis
Organs
Symmetry
Three dimensional models
Vibrio cholerae - physiology
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Summary:Bacterial biofilms represent a major form of microbial life on Earth and serve as a model active nematic system, in which activity results from growth of the rod-shaped bacterial cells. In their natural environments, ranging from human organs to industrial pipelines, biofilms have evolved to grow robustly under significant fluid shear. Despite intense practical and theoretical interest, it is unclear how strong fluid flow alters the local and global architectures of biofilms. Here, we combine highly time-resolved single-cell live imaging with 3D multiscale modeling to investigate the mechanisms by which flow affects the dynamics of all individual cells in growing biofilms. Our experiments and cell-based simulations reveal three quantitatively different growth phases in strong external flow and the transitions between them. In the initial stages of biofilm development, flow induces a downstream gradient in cell orientation, causing asymmetrical dropletlike biofilm shapes. In the later developmental stages, when the majority of cells are sheltered from the flow by the surrounding extracellular matrix, buckling-induced cell verticalization in the biofilm core restores radially symmetric biofilm growth, in agreement with predictions of a 3D continuum model.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.258101