Unraveling the biophysical underpinnings to the success of multispecies biofilms in porous environments.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms regulate critical processes in porous ecosystems. However, the biophysical underpinnings of the ecological success of these biofilms are poorly understood. Combining experiments with fluidic devices, sequencing and modeling, we reveal that architectural plasticity enhances space exploitation by multispecies biofilms in porous environments. Biofilms consistently differentiated into an annular base biofilm coating the grains and into streamers protruding from the grains into the pore space. Although different flow-related processes governed the differentiation of these architectures, both BB and streamers were composed of similar bacterial assemblages. This is evidence for architectural plasticity. Architectural plasticity allowed for complementary use of the space provided by the g

SUBMITTER: Scheidweiler D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6776110 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature