Author/Editor     Sretenović, Simon; Stojković, Biljana; Dogša, Iztok; Kostanjšek, Rok; Poberaj, Igor; Stopar, David
Title     An early mechanical coupling of planktonic bacteria in dilute suspensions
Type     članek
Vol. and No.     , št. Vol. 8
Publication year     2017
Volume     str. 1-10
ISSN     2041-1723 - Nature communications
Language     eng
Abstract     It is generally accepted that planktonic bacteria in dilute suspensions are not mechanically coupled and do not show correlated motion. The mechanical coupling of cells is a trait that develops upon transition into a biofilm, a microbial community of self-aggregated bacterial cells. Here we employ optical tweezers to show that bacteria in dilute suspensions are mechanically coupled and show long-range correlated motion. The strength of the coupling increases with the growth of liquid bacterial culture. The matrix responsible for the mechanical coupling is composed of cell debris and extracellular polymer material. The fragile network connecting cells behaves as viscoelastic liquid of entangled extracellular polymers. Our findings point to physical connections between bacteria in dilute bacterial suspensions that may provide a mechanistic framework for understanding of biofilm formation, osmotic flow of nutrients, diffusion of signal molecules in quorum sensing, or different efficacy of antibiotic treatments at low and high bacterial densities.
Keywords     mechanical coupling of cells
biofilms
cellular microbiology
mehansko spajanje celic
biofilmi
celična mikrobiologija