Worlitzer Vasco M, Jose Ajesh, Grinberg Ilana, Bär Markus, Heidenreich Sebastian, Eldar Avigdor, Ariel Gil, Be'er Avraham
Department of Mathematical Modelling and Data Analysis, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig und Berlin, Abbestrasse 2-12, D-10587 Berlin, Germany.
Department of Mathematics, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat Gan, Israel.
Sci Adv. 2022 Jun 17;8(24):eabn8152. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abn8152. Epub 2022 Jun 15.
Bacteria organize in a variety of collective states, from swarming-rapid surface exploration, to biofilms-highly dense immobile communities attributed to stress resistance. It has been suggested that biofilm and swarming are oppositely controlled, making this transition particularly interesting for understanding the ability of bacterial colonies to adapt to challenging environments. Here, the swarm to biofilm transition is studied in by analyzing the bacterial dynamics both on the individual and collective scales. We show that both biological and physical processes facilitate the transition. A few individual cells that initiate the biofilm program cause nucleation of large, approximately scale-free, stationary aggregates of trapped swarm cells. Around aggregates, cells continue swarming almost unobstructed, while inside, trapped cells are added to the biofilm. While our experimental findings rule out previously suggested purely physical effects as a trigger for biofilm formation, they show how physical processes, such as clustering and jamming, accelerate biofilm formation.
细菌会组织成多种集体状态，从群体迁移（快速进行表面探索）到生物膜（高度密集的静止群落，具有抗逆性）。有人提出生物膜形成和群体迁移受到相反的调控，这使得这种转变对于理解细菌菌落适应挑战性环境的能力特别有趣。在此，通过在个体和集体尺度上分析细菌动态，对群体迁移到生物膜的转变进行了研究。我们表明，生物过程和物理过程都促进了这种转变。少数启动生物膜程序的单个细胞会导致大量被困群体迁移细胞形成近似无标度的静止聚集体并成核。在聚集体周围，细胞几乎不受阻碍地继续群体迁移，而在聚集体内部，被困细胞则被添加到生物膜中。虽然我们的实验结果排除了先前提出的纯粹物理效应作为生物膜形成触发因素的观点，但它们展示了诸如聚集和堵塞等物理过程如何加速生物膜的形成。
