Abstract
Biofilm formation from cell fountains Bacteria form three-dimensional communities called biofilms that are ubiquitous in nature and underlie human infections. Medically, biofilms are problematic because they protect resident cells from antibiotics. Although biofilms have been intensively studied, we do not understand how they develop cell by cell. Micron-sized bacteria are densely packed within biofilms, making it exceptionally challenging to track their movements. Qin et al. studied biofilm formation in the pathogen and model biofilm former Vibrio cholerae (see the Perspective by Dal Co and Brenner). The authors combined light-sheet microscopy with cell labeling to map the trajectories of a biofilm founder cell and its descendants in space and time as they built a biofilm. The findings revealed that as the bacteria reproduce, a bacterial “fountain” drives biofilm expansion and dictates the final positions of the offspring. Science , this issue p. 71 ; see also p. 30
🔬 Techniques
🔭 Microscopes
✨ Fluorophores
🧪 Sample Preparation
🔬 Cell Lines
🏭 Microscope Brands
💾 Data Repositories
🏛️ Research Organizations (ROR)
Affiliated research institutions:
📊 Figures
Fig. 1.
Single-cell tracking of WT V. cholerae biofilm cells using dual-view light-sheet microscopy and a cytoplasmic fluorescent protein marker.
( A ) Three-dimensional view of biofilm cells that constitutively produced mScarlet-I (cell contour) and an mNeonGreen-u03bcNS protein fusion (puncta). Scale bar 10 u03bcm. Inset: mNeonGreen-u03bcNS l...
Fig. 2.
Bacterial trajectory dynamics at single-cell resolution.
( A , B ) Mean-squared displacement (MSD) of bacterial cell trajectories versus lag time at the indicated time points for (A) WT V. cholerae and (B) the u0394 vpsL mutant. ( C ) MSD scaling exponents ...
Fig. 3.
Cell trapping and reduced biofilm expansion occur near the substrate.
( A ) Cell trajectories colored by trajectory trapping parameter u03b1 for all cells located within 4 u03bcm of the substrate at any point in their trajectories. ( B ) Probability distribution (PDF) o...
Fig. 4.
Internal fountain-like cell flow patterns underlie 3D biofilm expansion.
( A ) Cell trajectories plotted in the cylindrical coordinates with radius u03c1 and height z , colored by the end-to-end change in polar angle u0394 u03d5 . Blue indicates cell motion reorienting tow...
Fig. 5.
Coherence of individual cell trajectories is controlled by biofilm matrix components.
( A-D ) Side view ( yz ) projections of puncta traces during full biofilm development (0-16 h) for (A) WT V. cholerae , (B) the Rg mutant, (C) the u0394 rbmA mutant, and (D) the Rg u0394 rbmA double m...
Figure images are served from the NIH/NLM PubMed Central Open Access Subset or Europe PMC; copyright remains with the publishers and authors.
💬 Discussion
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