PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA CELLS ALTER ENVIRONMENT TO EFFICIENTLY COLONIZE SURFACES USING FLUID DYNAMICS

摘要

Many bacteria use motility described as swarming to colonize surfaces and form biofilm. Swarming motility has been shown important to biofilm formation [1], where cells act not as individuals but as coordinated groups to move across surfaces, often within a thin-liquid film [2]. Production of a surfactant during swarm improves bacterial motility by lowering surface tension of the liquid film [2]. The mechanism of cell motion during swarming are currently best described for Escherichia coli and Paenibacillus spp., which spread as monolayers of motile cells [3,4]. For Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), which does not swarm as a monolayer, the cell and fluid patterns are difficult to discern using current experimental methods. It is not yet known if swarming P. aeruginosa cells behave solely as swimming cells [5] or if twitching, sliding, or walking motility [6] are also important to swarming.