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
Multispecies biofilm architecture determines bacterial exposure to phages
Numerous ecological interactions among microbes—for example, competition for space and resources, or interaction among phages and their bacterial hosts—are likely to occur simultaneously in multispecies biofilm communities. While biofilms formed by just a single species occur, multispecies biofilms are thought to be more typical of microbial communities in the natural environment. Previous work has shown that multispecies biofilms can increase, decrease, or have no measurable impact on phage exposure of a host bacterium living alongside another species that the phages cannot target. The reasons underlying this variability are not well understood, and how phage–host encounters change within multispecies biofilms remains mostly unexplored at the cellular spatial scale. Here, we study how the cellular scale architecture of model 2-species biofilms impacts cell–cell and cell–phage interactions controlling larger scale population and community dynamics. Our system consists of dual culture biofilms of
- Award ID(s):
- 2017879
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10467892
- Editor(s):
- Barr, Jeremy J.
- Publisher / Repository:
- PloS Biology
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- PLOS Biology
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 1545-7885
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- e3001913
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001913
