Abstract
Biofilms are a major form of microbial life in which cells form dense surface associated communities that can persist for many generations. The long-life of biofilm communities means that they can be strongly shaped by evolutionary processes. Here, we review the experimental study of evolution in biofilm communities. We first provide an overview of the different experimental models used to study biofilm evolution and their associated advantages and disadvantages. We then illustrate the vast amount of diversification observed during biofilm evolution, and we discuss (i) potential ecological and evolutionary processes behind the observed diversification, (ii) recent insights into the genetics of adaptive diversification, (iii) the striking degree of parallelism between evolution experiments and real-life biofilms and (iv) potential consequences of diversification. In the second part, we discuss the insights provided by evolution experiments in how biofilm growth and structure can promote cooperative phenotypes. Overall, our analysis points to an important role of biofilm diversification and cooperation in bacterial survival and productivity. Deeper understanding of both processes is of key importance to design improved antimicrobial strategies and diagnostic techniques.
Highlights
Biofilms are a major form of microbial life in which single or multiple species of bacteria form densely populated communities, typically enclosed in a matrix of secreted polymers (Costerton et al 1995; Hall-Stoodley and Stoodley 2009; Steenackers et al 2012; Hobley et al 2015)
Despite the predominance of biofilm growth in nature, only a relatively limited number of evolution experiments have been performed with biofilm populations
The majority of biofilm evolution studies have focused on the fast emergence of morphotypic, phenotypic and genotypic variation within biofilms
Summary
Biofilms are a major form of microbial life in which single or multiple species of bacteria form densely populated communities, typically enclosed in a matrix of secreted polymers (Costerton et al 1995; Hall-Stoodley and Stoodley 2009; Steenackers et al 2012; Hobley et al 2015). (b) Colonies on agar plates are considered to be suitable biofilm models due to the presence of gradients, an increased mutation rate and a structured environment (Adapted from Kim et al 2014, used by e.g. Korona et al 1994; Perfeito et al 2008; Koch et al 2014; Saint-Ruf et al 2014; van Gestel et al 2014).
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