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Biofilm mechanics and patterns

Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery

From multicellular tissues to bacterial colonies, three dimensional cellular structures arise through the inter- action of cellular activities and mechanical forces. Simple bacterial communities provide model systems for ana- lyzing such interaction. Biofilms are bacterial aggregates attached to wet surfaces and encased in a self-produced polymeric matrix. Biofilms in flows [1, 2] form filamentary structures that contrast with the wrinkled layers observed on air/solid interfaces [3, 4]. We are able to reproduce both types of shapes through elastic rod and plate models [2, 4] that incorporate information from the biomass production and differentiations process, such as growth rates, growth tensors or inner stresses, as well as constraints imposed by the interaction with environ- ment. A more precise study of biofilm dynamics requires tackling water absorption from its surroundings and fluid transport within the biological system. This process alters the material properties of the biofilm and the overall stresses. We analyze whether poroelastic approaches [5] can provide a suitable combined description of fluid-like and solid-like biofilm behavior. References [1] K.Drescher,Y.Shen,B.L.BasslerandH.A.Stone,Biofilmstreamerscausecatastrophicdisruptionofflowwithconsequencesfor environmental and medical systems, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sc. USA 110, 4345-4350 (2013). [2] D.R. Espeso, A. Carpio, E. Martinez-Garcia and V. de Lorenzo, Stenosis triggers spread of helical Pseudomonas biofilms in cylin- drical flow systems, Sci. Rep. 6, 27170 (2016). [3] A.Seminara,T.E.Angelini,J.N.Wilking,H.Vlamakis,S.Ebrahim,R.Kolter,D.A.WeitzandM.P.Brenner,Osmoticspreadingof Bacillus subtilis biofilms driven by an extracellular matrix, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 109, 1116-1121 (2012). [4] D.R.Espeso,A.CarpioandB.Einarsson,Differentialgrowthofwrinkledbiofilms,Phys.Rev.E91,022710(2015). [5] M.A.Biot,Generaltheoryofthreedimensionalconsolidation,J.Appl.Phys.12,155-164(1941).

Mathematics; Quantum theory; Mechanics of deformable solids; Applied analysis / inverse problems

video/mp4

Author affiliation: Universidad Complutense de Madrid

2017-10-13

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/63277

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/