ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2012
Localized cell death focuses mechanical forces during 3D patterning in a biofilm.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 171 papers.
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171 citing papers in PubMed, 357 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Biofilms as more than the sum of their parts: lessons from developmental biology.Current opinion in microbiology · 2024Review
- Patterning Bacterial Cells on Quasi-Liquid Surfaces for Biofilm Morphological Control.Advanced functional materials · 2024Article
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111 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
From microbial biofilm communities to multicellular organisms, 3D macroscopic structures develop through poorly understood interplay between cellular processes and mechanical forces. Investigating wrinkled biofilms of Bacillus subtilis, we discovered a pattern of localized cell death that spatially focuses mechanical forces, and thereby initiates wrinkle formation. Deletion of genes implicated in biofilm development, together with mathematical modeling, revealed that ECM production underlies the localization of cell death. Simultaneously with cell death, we quantitatively measured mechanical stiffness and movement in WT and mutant biofilms. Results suggest that localized cell death provides an outlet for lateral compressive forces, thereby promoting vertical mechanical buckling, which subsequently leads to wrinkle formation. Guided by these findings, we were able to generate artificial wrinkle patterns within biofilms. Formation of 3D structures facilitated by cell death may underlie self-organization in other developmental systems, and could enable engineering of macroscopic structures from cell populations.
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