Self-organized canals enable long-range directed material transport in bacterial communities
Author:
Li Ye1,
Liu Shiqi1,
Zhang Yingdan2,
Seng Zi Jing3,
Xu Haoran1ORCID,
Yang Liang2,
Wu Yilin1ORCID
Affiliation:
1. Department of Physics and Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2. School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology
3. Singapore Center for Environmental Life Science Engineering, Nanyang Technological University
Abstract
Long-range material transport is essential to maintain the physiological functions of multicellular organisms such as animals and plants. By contrast, material transport in bacteria is often short-ranged and limited by diffusion. Here, we report a unique form of actively regulated long-range directed material transport in structured bacterial communities. Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonies as a model system, we discover that a large-scale and temporally evolving open-channel system spontaneously develops in the colony via shear-induced banding. Fluid flows in the open channels support high-speed (up to 450 µm/s) transport of cells and outer membrane vesicles over centimeters, and help to eradicate colonies of a competing species Staphylococcus aureus. The open channels are reminiscent of human-made canals for cargo transport, and the channel flows are driven by interfacial tension mediated by cell-secreted biosurfactants. The spatial-temporal dynamics of fluid flows in the open channels are qualitatively described by flow profile measurement and mathematical modeling. Our findings demonstrate that mechanochemical coupling between interfacial force and biosurfactant kinetics can coordinate large-scale material transport in primitive life forms, suggesting a new principle to engineer self-organized microbial communities.
Funder
Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee
Guangdong Natural Science Foundation
Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Subject
General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine,General Neuroscience
Cited by
1 articles.
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