Bacterial species with different nanocolony morphologies have distinct flow-dependent colonization behaviors.

ABSTRACT: Fluid flows are dominant features of many bacterial environments, and flow can often impact bacterial behaviors in unexpected ways. For example, the most common type of cardiovascular infection is heart valve colonization by gram-positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis (endocarditis). This behavior is counterintuitive because heart valves experience high shear rates that would naively be expected to reduce colonization. To determine whether these bacteria preferentially colonize higher shear rate environments, we developed a microfluidic system to quantify the effect of flow conditions on the colonization of S. aureus and E. faecalis. We find that the preferential colonization in high flow of both species is not specific to heart v

SUBMITTER: Hallinen KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11848407 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature