Complexity Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; HEALTHTECH NTU, Interdisciplinary Graduate School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Complexity Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
J Theor Biol. 2019 Dec 7;482:109994. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.109994. Epub 2019 Sep 2.
Morphological changes in bacterial biofilm structures arise from the fluid-structure interactions between the biofilm and the surrounding fluid. Depending on the magnitude of the force acting on the structure, the bacteria rearrange to attain an equilibrium shape or get washed away by the moving fluid. Understanding the dynamics behind the evolution of such equilibrium or failed states can aid in development of tools for biofilm removal or eradication. We develop a Glazier-Graner-Hogeweg method-based model to explore the collective evolution of biofilm morphology arising from cell-cell and cell-fluid interactions. We show that low adherence and high motility of the cells leads to sloughing of biofilms. Also, streamers are found to form under laminar flow conditions in tightly packed biofilms. In mixed species biofilms, we found that a species with less cell-cell binding affinity gets eroded faster than its counterpart. Therefore, we hypothesize that in nature these less-adherent species should be present encapsulated within the biofilm structure to maximize their chances of survival.
细菌生物膜结构的形态变化源于生物膜与周围流体之间的流固相互作用。根据作用在结构上的力的大小，细菌会重新排列以达到平衡形状或被流动的流体冲走。了解这种平衡或失效状态演变背后的动力学可以帮助开发用于去除或根除生物膜的工具。我们开发了一种基于 Glazier-Graner-Hogeweg 方法的模型，以探索由于细胞-细胞和细胞-流体相互作用而导致的生物膜形态的集体演变。我们表明，细胞的低粘附性和高迁移率会导致生物膜脱落。此外，在紧密堆积的生物膜中发现，在层流条件下会形成流带。在混合物种生物膜中，我们发现具有较低细胞间结合亲和力的物种比其对应物更容易被侵蚀。因此，我们假设在自然界中，这些粘附性较低的物种应该被包裹在生物膜结构内，以最大程度地提高它们的生存机会。
