Bacterial swarming dynamics in simulated physiological environments

Abstract

Bacterial motility is a vital aspect of human intestinal microbiome and is linked to disease pathogenesis and virulence. While intestinal ecosystem is a heterogeneous landscape, our understanding on bacterial movement patterns comes mainly from motility assays (swimming and swarming on agar plates) that lack the microstructural complexity of intestine. Moreover, pathophysiological conditions can alter the physical structure of microbial habitats. For instance, uniform mucus barrier in normal mucosa becomes defective and discontinuous with epithelial “obstacles” under inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) conditions.