Abstract
The expansion of bacterial swarms and the spreading of biofilms can be described by a unified biophysical theory that involves both active and passive processes.
Highlights
Related research article Srinivasan S, Kaplan CN, Mahadevan L. 2019
A long-held paradigm in microbiology has been that bacteria are unicellular creatures, and that the effect of a large population of bacteria is the sum of the effects of all the individual cells
Srinivasan et al realized that the spread of both systems can be viewed as involving just two phases of matter: an active, growing phase of bacteria and/or matrix components, and a passive phase of fluid which can move from the substrate to the system and back
Summary
Related research article Srinivasan S, Kaplan CN, Mahadevan L. 2019. A multiphase theory for spreading microbial swarms and films. eLife 8:e42697. Bacterial swarms and biofilms are typically viewed as two fundamentally different phenotypes because they are regulated by different genes, are caused by different cellular processes, and display obvious differences at the microscopic scale: swarms involve highly motile cells that move collectively (Darnton et al, 2010; Kearns, 2010; Zhang et al, 2010), whereas biofilms consist primarily of non-motile cells that are held together by an extracellular matrix (Flemming et al, 2016).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
