How a Biofilm’s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry
1 min read
Summary
Biofilms, communities of surface-dwelling microbes, have complex, emergent shapes despite being only a few cells thick.
Recent research at Georgia Tech biophysicist Peter Yunker’s laboratory used detailed topographical maps to allow the study of how a biofilm’s shape emerges from infinitesimal interactions among its component bacteria and their environment.
These interactions are governed by two opposing forces — a repulsive force that prevents two cells from occupying the same space, and an attractive force that fastens together the gluey proteins coating the surface of each cell.
Yunker and colleagues showed that the geometry at the outer edge of a biofilm — a combination of the cells’ stickiness and the contact angle at the edge of the emerging collective — was the single most important factor in the biofilm’s overall growth and fitness.
Further study could show how simple communications between neighboring cells lead to the emergence of a global shape, potentially allowing prediction of an organism’s final form.
