Microfluidics Expanding the Frontiers of Microbial Ecology

Rusconi, Roberto; Garren, Melissa; Stocker, Roman

doi:10.1146/annurev-biophys-051013-022916

Cited by 177 publications

(146 citation statements)

References 127 publications

(146 reference statements)

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“…Bacterial sociality and biofilm formation play critical roles in microbial ecology, pathogenesis and industrial applications (Costerton et al, 1999;HallStoodley et al, 2004;Rusconi et al, 2014). The literature often focuses on biofilm formation from the point at which planktonic cells colonize unoccupied surfaces and proceed to initiate biofilm-associated behaviors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extracellular matrix structure governs invasion resistance in bacterial biofilms

et al. 2015

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Many bacteria are highly adapted for life in communities, or biofilms. A defining feature of biofilms is the production of extracellular matrix that binds cells together. The biofilm matrix provides numerous fitness benefits, including protection from environmental stresses and enhanced nutrient availability. Here we investigate defense against biofilm invasion using the model bacterium Vibrio cholerae. We demonstrate that immotile cells, including those identical to the biofilm resident strain, are completely excluded from entry into resident biofilms. Motile cells can colonize and grow on the biofilm exterior, but are readily removed by shear forces. Protection from invasion into the biofilm interior is mediated by the secreted protein RbmA, which binds mother-daughter cell pairs to each other and to polysaccharide components of the matrix. RbmA, and the invasion protection it confers, strongly localize to the cell lineages that produce it.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extracellular matrix structure governs invasion resistance in bacterial biofilms

et al. 2015

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“…Attempts to dissect the individual and combined contributions of these factors to biofilm growth have increasingly relied on examination of bacterial communities in microfluidic devices that mimic central features of natural environments (11,35,36). Although sophisticated methods for fabricating biofilm microenvironments are available, a significant barrier to progress has been the lack of techniques capable of resolving all individual cells residing inside biofilms.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Architectural transitions in Vibrio cholerae biofilms at single-cell resolution

Drescher

Dunkel

Nadell

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

193

216

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Many bacterial species colonize surfaces and form dense 3D structures, known as biofilms, which are highly tolerant to antibiotics and constitute one of the major forms of bacterial biomass on Earth. Bacterial biofilms display remarkable changes during their development from initial attachment to maturity, yet the cellular architecture that gives rise to collective biofilm morphology during growth is largely unknown. Here, we use high-resolution optical microscopy to image all individual cells in Vibrio cholerae biofilms at different stages of development, including colonies that range in size from 2 to 4,500 cells. From these data, we extracted the precise 3D cellular arrangements, cell shapes, sizes, and global morphological features during biofilm growth on submerged glass substrates under flow. We discovered several critical transitions of the internal and external biofilm architectures that separate the major phases of V. cholerae biofilm growth. Optical imaging of biofilms with single-cell resolution provides a new window into biofilm formation that will prove invaluable to understanding the mechanics underlying biofilm development.biofilm | community | self-organization | emergent order | nematic order

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“…1B). This approach has emerged recently as a powerful experimental tool for studying behaviors of individual cells over extended periods of time (15)(16)(17). The asymmetric division of C. crescentus into stalked and swarmer cells allowed us to monitor attached stalked cells over a long time period during which swarmer progenies were continuously washed out (15).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of single bacterial cells to stress gives rise to complex history dependence at the population level

Mathis

Ackermann

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Most bacteria live in ever-changing environments where periods of stress are common. One fundamental question is whether individual bacterial cells have an increased tolerance to stress if they recently have been exposed to lower levels of the same stressor. To address this question, we worked with the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus and asked whether exposure to a moderate concentration of sodium chloride would affect survival during later exposure to a higher concentration. We found that the effects measured at the population level depended in a surprising and complex way on the time interval between the two exposure events: The effect of the first exposure on survival of the second exposure was positive for some time intervals but negative for others. We hypothesized that the complex pattern of history dependence at the population level was a consequence of the responses of individual cells to sodium chloride that we observed: (i) exposure to moderate concentrations of sodium chloride caused delays in cell division and led to cell-cycle synchronization, and (ii) whether a bacterium would survive subsequent exposure to higher concentrations was dependent on the cell-cycle state. Using computational modeling, we demonstrated that indeed the combination of these two effects could explain the complex patterns of history dependence observed at the population level. Our insight into how the behavior of single cells scales up to processes at the population level provides a perspective on how organisms operate in dynamic environments with fluctuating stress exposure.bacterial memory | single cell | cell cycle | priming | synchronization B acteria are constantly challenged by their environment (1). Are bacterial cells able to respond better to environmental changes if they have experienced similar conditions in the recent past? It has been demonstrated that bacterial populations respond faster to a change of nutrient source when the forthcoming nutrient source has been presented in the recent past (2, 3). Similarly, bacterial populations that were exposed to sublethal stress levels showed increased survival of a higher stress level of the same type (4-6). Theoretical and experimental studies indicate that basing cellular decisions on environmental cues perceived in the past can be advantageous in dynamic environments (3,7,8), suggesting that such history-dependent behavior can be the result of adaptive evolution in dynamic environments.In this study we addressed the question of memory on a singlecell level. We asked whether weak stress events provide individual cells with increased tolerance against future stress. Memory effects usually have been studied on the basis of population measurements (4, 9-12). Using population measurements, it is difficult to determine whether history dependence is a consequence of the behavioral changes in individuals or of a shift in the composition of the population as a result of past events. By using single-cell analysis, we investigated how the behavior of individuals scaled up to hi...

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Microfluidics Expanding the Frontiers of Microbial Ecology

Cited by 177 publications

References 127 publications

Extracellular matrix structure governs invasion resistance in bacterial biofilms

Extracellular matrix structure governs invasion resistance in bacterial biofilms

Architectural transitions in Vibrio cholerae biofilms at single-cell resolution

Response of single bacterial cells to stress gives rise to complex history dependence at the population level

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