Cell position fates and collective fountain flow in bacterial biofilms revealed by light-sheet microscopy

Abstract

Biofilm formation from cell fountains Bacteria form three-dimensional communities called biofilms that are ubiquitous in nature and underlie human infections. Medically, biofilms are problematic because they protect resident cells from antibiotics. Although biofilms have been intensively studied, we do not understand how they develop cell by cell. Micron-sized bacteria are densely packed within biofilms, making it exceptionally challenging to track their movements. Qin et al. studied biofilm formation in the pathogen and model biofilm former Vibrio cholerae (see the Perspective by Dal Co and Brenner). The authors combined light-sheet microscopy with cell labeling to map the trajectories of a biofilm founder cell and its descendants in space and time as they built a biofilm. The findings revealed that as the bacteria reproduce, a bacterial “fountain” drives biofilm expansion and dictates the final positions of the offspring. Science , this issue p. 71 ; see also p. 30