Coupling between distant biofilms and emergence of nutrient time-sharing

Date Issued
2017-05-12Publisher Version
10.1126/science.aah4204Author(s)
Liu, Jintao
Martinez-Corral, Rosa
Prindle, Arthur
Lee, Dong-Yeon D.
Larkin, Joseph
Gabalda-Sagarra, Marçal
Garcia-Ojalvo, Jordi
Süel, Gürol M.
Metadata
Show full item recordPermanent Link
https://hdl.handle.net/2144/42775Version
Published version
Citation (published version)
Jintao Liu, Rosa Martinez-Corral, Arthur Prindle, Dong-Yeon D Lee, Joseph Larkin, Marçal Gabalda-Sagarra, Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo, Gürol M Süel. 2017. "Coupling between distant biofilms and emergence of nutrient time-sharing.." Science, Volume 356, Issue 6338, pp. 638 - 642. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah4204Abstract
Bacteria within communities can interact to organize their behavior. It has been unclear whether such interactions can extend beyond a single community to coordinate the behavior of distant populations. We discovered that two Bacillus subtilis biofilm communities undergoing metabolic oscillations can become coupled through electrical signaling and synchronize their growth dynamics. Coupling increases competition by also synchronizing demand for limited nutrients. As predicted by mathematical modeling, we confirm that biofilms resolve this conflict by switching from in-phase to antiphase oscillations. This results in time-sharing behavior, where each community takes turns consuming nutrients. Time-sharing enables biofilms to counterintuitively increase growth under reduced nutrient supply. Distant biofilms can thus coordinate their behavior to resolve nutrient competition through time-sharing, a strategy used in engineered systems to allocate limited resources.
Description
Published in final edited form as: Science. 2017 May 12; 356(6338): 638–642. doi:10.1126/science.aah4204.
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