ArticleeLife2015
Differential interaction forces govern bacterial sorting in early biofilms.
Article in eLife, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Neisseria subflava Type 6 Secretion System competition with bacterial and fungal species.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Influence of the ATP-dependent DNA ligase, Lig E, onBiofilm · 2025Article
- Resolving spatiotemporal dynamics in bacterial multicellular populations: approaches and challenges.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Pilin antigenic variants impact gonococcal lifestyle and antibiotic tolerance by modulating interbacterial forces.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Optogenetic Control of Bacterial Cell-Cell Adhesion Dynamics: Unraveling the Influence on Biofilm Architecture and Functionality.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Substrate geometry affects population dynamics in a bacterial biofilm.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Type IV pilus retraction is required formBio · 2024Article
- Cell motility empowers bacterial contact weapons.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of Pseudomonas aeruginosa type VI secretion system relies on toxin potency and type IV pili-dependent interaction.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Breakdown of clonal cooperative architecture in multispecies biofilms and the spatial ecology of predation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
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- Nanotubes Formation inCells · 2022Article
- Shared biophysical mechanisms determine early biofilm architecture development across different bacterial species.PLoS biology · 2022Article
- Type IV Pilus Shapes a 'Bubble-Burst' Pattern Opposing Spatial Intermixing of Two Interacting Bacterial Populations.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Population Dynamics of a Two Phages-One Host Infection System UsingPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Review
- Mutability of demographic noise in microbial range expansions.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Spatiotemporal dynamics of growth and death within spherical bacterial colonies.Biophysical journal · 2021Article
- Morphogenesis and cell ordering in confined bacterial biofilms.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Bacterial biofilms can generate micro-heterogeneity in terms of surface structures. However, little is known about the associated changes in the physics of cell-cell interaction and its impact on the architecture of biofilms. In this study, we used the type IV pilus of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to test whether variation of surface structures induces cell-sorting. We show that the rupture forces between pili are fine-tuned by post-translational modification. Bacterial sorting was dependent on pilus post-translational modification and pilus density. Active force generation was necessary for defined morphologies of mixed microcolonies. The observed morphotypes were in remarkable agreement with the differential strength of adhesion hypothesis proposing that a tug-of-war among surface structures of different cells governs cell sorting. We conclude that in early biofilms the density and rupture force of bacterial surface structures can trigger cell sorting based on similar physical principles as in developing embryos.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.