Structural secrets of biofilms

Abstract

Biofilms are communities of bacteria that cannot easily be killed with antibiotics because they are protected by a tough polymer matrix that deflects antibiotics. When researchers at the University of Strathclyde used powerful imaging technology to look underneath that armor, they expected to see a fairly homogeneous mass of cells. Instead they found that the bacterial communities form a complicated architecture of channels. Their reconnaissance mission has yielded architectural plans that could help scientists find a secret door to deliver drugs to the center of biofilm communities to help fight infections (ISME J. 2020, DOI:10.1038/s41396-020-0700-9). Liam M. Rooney imaged a biofilm using a mesoscope that resolves features down to 700 nm in size (smaller than a single E. coli) over a 6 mm field of view and to a depth of 3 mm, revealing the channels. Rooney then used a variety of methods to determine that the channels are made