title: Single-cell control of initial spatial structure in biofilm development using laser trapping.
abstract: Biofilms are sessile communities of microbes that are spatially structured by an embedding matrix. Biofilm infections are notoriously intractable. This arises, in part, from changes in the bacterial phenotype that result from spatial structure. Understanding these interactions requires methods to control the spatial structure of biofilms. We present a method for growing biofilms from initiating cells whose positions are controlled with single-cell precision using laser trapping. The native growth, motility, and surface adhesion of positioned microbes are preserved, as we show for model organisms Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. We demonstrate that laser-trapping and placing bacteria on surfaces can reveal the effects of spatial structure on bacterial growth in early biofilm development.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nonlinear Dynamics and Department of Physics and ‡School of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Jaime B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Hutchison
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rodesney
authors.forename: Karishma S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kaushik
authors.forename: Henry H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hurwitz
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Irie
authors.forename: Vernita D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Gordon
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000254:growth & development; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000254:growth & development