ArticleNature communications2017
Extracellular-matrix-mediated osmotic pressure drives Vibrio cholerae biofilm expansion and cheater exclusion.
Article in Nature communications, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 194 citations in OpenAlex.
- Charged agar surfaces affectBiofilm · 2026Article
- Biosurfactants direct the evolutionary dynamics of surface-associated microbial systems.Science advances · 2026Article
- Mesolens imaging in microbiology.Essays in biochemistry · 2026Review
- Self-generated hydrogel ejects bacterial cells for localized biofilm dispersion.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Bioactive Hydrogel-MOF Composites as Resistance-Modulating Wound Interfaces: Molecular Mechanisms and Rational Design for Chronic Wound Management.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Ordered assembly of themBio · 2026Article
- E. coli Extracellular Matrix: A Tunable Composite With Hierarchical Structure.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- What is active wetting?The European physical journal. E, Soft matter · 2026Review
- Microfluidic encapsulation of the human gut microbiota-a tool for research and beyond.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- A branching cell-fate decision in biofilm dispersal enables long-term surface persistence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Self-organization of cellulose-producing microbial communities during biofilm spreading.Soft matter · 2025Article
- Dissecting the physics of bacterial biofilms with agent-based simulations.Current opinion in solid state & materials science · 2025Article
- RpoN mediates biofilm formation by directly controllingBiofilm · 2025Article
- It Is Useless to Resist: Biofilms in Metalworking Fluid Systems.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Spatiotemporal development of expanding bacterial colonies driven by emergent mechanical constraints and nutrient gradients.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Novel two-stage expansion of Streptococcus mutans biofilm supports EPS-targeted prevention strategies for early childhood caries.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Stress adaptation underMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Substrate stiffness modulates collective colony expansion of the social bacteriumAPL bioengineering · 2025Article
- Disentangling the feedback loops driving spatial patterning in microbial communities.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Review
- Bacterial osmoprotectants-a way to survive in saline conditions and potential crop allies.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Biofilms, surface-attached communities of bacteria encased in an extracellular matrix, are a major mode of bacterial life. How the material properties of the matrix contribute to biofilm growth and robustness is largely unexplored, in particular in response to environmental perturbations such as changes in osmotic pressure. Here, using Vibrio cholerae as our model organism, we show that during active cell growth, matrix production enables biofilm-dwelling bacterial cells to establish an osmotic pressure difference between the biofilm and the external environment. This pressure difference promotes biofilm expansion on nutritious surfaces by physically swelling the colony, which enhances nutrient uptake, and enables matrix-producing cells to outcompete non-matrix-producing cheaters via physical exclusion. Osmotic pressure together with crosslinking of the matrix also controls the growth of submerged biofilms and their susceptibility to invasion by planktonic cells. As the basic physicochemical principles of matrix crosslinking and osmotic swelling are universal, our findings may have implications for other biofilm-forming bacterial species.Most bacteria live in biofilms, surface-attached communities encased in an extracellular matrix. Here, Yan et al. show that matrix production in Vibrio cholerae increases the osmotic pressure within the biofilm, promoting biofilm expansion and physical exclusion of non-matrix producing cheaters.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.