Spatial population dynamics of bacterial colonies with social antibiotic resistance.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria frequently inhabit surface-attached communities where rich "social" interactions can significantly alter their population-level behavior, including their response to antibiotics. Understanding these collective effects in spatially heterogeneous communities is an ongoing challenge. Here, we investigated the spatial organization that emerges from antibiotic exposure in initially randomly distributed communities containing antibiotic-resistant and -sensitive strains of Enterococcus faecalis, an opportunistic pathogen. We identified that a range of complex spatial structures emerged in the population homeland-the inoculated region that microbes inhabit prior to range expansion-which depended on initial colony composition and antibiotic concentration. We found that these arrange

SUBMITTER: Denk-Lobnig MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11848446 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature