Spatiometabolic stratification of Shewanella oneidensis biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms, or surface-attached microbial communities, are both ubiquitous and resilient in the environment. Although much is known about how biofilms form, develop, and detach, very little is understood about how these events are related to metabolism and its dynamics. It is commonly thought that large subpopulations of cells within biofilms are not actively producing proteins or generating energy and are therefore dead. An alternative hypothesis is that within the growth-inactive domains of biofilms, significant populations of living cells persist and retain the capacity to dynamically regulate their metabolism. To test this, we employed unstable fluorescent reporters to measure growth activity and protein synthesis in vivo over the course of biofilm development and created a quantitative

SUBMITTER: Teal TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1636161 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature