Breakdown of clonal cooperative architecture in multispecies biofilms and the spatial ecology of predation.

ABSTRACT: Biofilm formation, including adherence to surfaces and secretion of extracellular matrix, is common in the microbial world, but we often do not know how interaction at the cellular spatial scale translates to higher-order biofilm community ecology. Here we explore an especially understudied element of biofilm ecology, namely predation by the bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. This predator can kill and consume many different Gram-negative bacteria, including Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli. V. cholerae can protect itself from predation within densely packed biofilm structures that it creates, whereas E. coli biofilms are highly susceptible to B. bacteriovorus. We explore how predator-prey dynamics change when V. cholerae and E. co

SUBMITTER: Wucher BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9963355 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature