Microfluidic confinement of single cells of bacteria in small volumes initiates high-density behavior of quorum sensing and growth and reveals its variability.

Abstract

One is a quorum: As few as one to three cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria are confined in small volumes by the use of microfluidics. These small numbers of cells are able to activate quorum sensing (QS) pathways and achieve QS-dependent growth. The results also show that at low numbers of cells, initiation of QS is highly variable within a clonal population.