Biofilm Growth Under Elastic Confinement
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Publication Date
2022-04-29Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
ISSN
0031-9007
Publisher
American Physical Society
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
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Goldstein, R., Fortune, G., & Oliveira, N. (2022). Biofilm Growth Under Elastic Confinement. Physical Review Letters https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.178102
Abstract
Bacteria often form surface-bound communities, embedded in a self-produced extracellular matrix, called biofilms. Quantitative
studies of their growth have typically focused on unconfined expansion above solid or semi-solid surfaces, leading to exponential
radial growth. This geometry does not accurately reflect the natural or biomedical contexts in which biofilms grow in confined spaces. Here we
consider one of the simplest confined geometries: a biofilm growing laterally in the space between a solid surface and an overlying
elastic sheet. A poroelastic framework is utilised to derive the radial growth rate of the biofilm; it reveals an additional
self-similar expansion regime, governed by the Poisson's ratio of the matrix, leading to a finite maximum radius, consistent with our experimental
observations of growing Bacillus subtilis biofilms confined by PDMS.
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M017982/1)
BBSRC (BB/T009098/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.178102
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/335989
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