Biofilm Growth Under Elastic Confinement


Type
Article
Change log
Authors
Fortune, George 
Oliveira, Nuno 
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.

Description
Keywords
Bacillus subtilis, Biofilms, Extracellular Matrix
Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
0031-9007
1079-7114
Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Society
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M017982/1)
BBSRC (BB/T009098/1)