title: Coupling between distant biofilms and emergence of nutrient time-sharing.
abstract: Bacteria within communities can interact to organize their behavior. It has been unclear whether such interactions can extend beyond a single community to coordinate the behavior of distant populations. We discovered that twoBacillus subtilisbiofilm communities undergoing metabolic oscillations can become coupled through electrical signaling and synchronize their growth dynamics. Coupling increases competition by also synchronizing demand for limited nutrients. As predicted by mathematical modeling, we confirm that biofilms resolve this conflict by switching from in-phase to antiphase oscillations. This results in time-sharing behavior, where each community takes turns consuming nutrients. Time-sharing enables biofilms to counterintuitively increase growth under reduced nutrient supply. Distant biofilms can thus coordinate their behavior to resolve nutrient competition through time-sharing, a strategy used in engineered systems to allocate limited resources.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Jintao
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6710-2605
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3600-3601
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martinez-Corral
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8119-9087
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prindle
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Dong-Yeon D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5660-0246
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Larkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marçal
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3933-2577
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gabalda-Sagarra
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3716-7520
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garcia-Ojalvo
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. gsuel@ucsd.edu.|San Diego Center for Systems Biology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.|Center for Microbiome Innovation, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Gürol M
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0819-7867
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Süel
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D018441:Biofilms; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D056265:Microbial Interactions; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction