Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1QR, UK.
School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.
F1000Res. 2021 Aug 13;10:801. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.55140.1. eCollection 2021.
The airways of people with cystic fibrosis (CF) are often chronically colonised with a diverse array of bacterial and fungal species. However, little is known about the relative partitioning of species between the planktonic and biofilm modes of growth in the airways. Existing and models of CF airway infection are ill-suited for the long-term recapitulation of mixed microbial communities. Here we describe a simple, continuous-flow model for the cultivation of polymicrobial biofilms and planktonic cultures on different substrata. Our data provide evidence for inter-species antagonism and synergism in biofilm ecology. We further show that the type of substratum on which the biofilms grow has a profound influence on their species composition. This happens without any major alteration in the composition of the surrounding steady-state planktonic community. Our experimentally-tractable model enables the systematic study of planktonic and biofilm communities under conditions that are nutritionally reminiscent of the CF airway microenvironment, something not possible using any existing models of CF airway infection.
囊性纤维化（CF）患者的气道通常长期定植着多种细菌和真菌物种。然而，关于这些物种在气道中浮游和生物膜生长模式之间的相对分配情况，我们知之甚少。现有的 CF 气道感染模型并不适合长期重现混合微生物群落。在这里，我们描述了一种简单的连续流动模型，用于在不同基质上培养多微生物生物膜和浮游培养物。我们的数据提供了生物膜生态学中种间拮抗和协同作用的证据。我们进一步表明，生物膜生长的基质类型对其物种组成有深远的影响。这种情况发生在周围稳态浮游群落的组成没有任何重大改变的情况下。我们的实验可处理模型使我们能够在营养上类似于 CF 气道微环境的条件下系统地研究浮游和生物膜群落，这是任何现有的 CF 气道感染模型都无法实现的。
