The 3D architecture of a bacterial swarm has implications for antibiotic tolerance

Jonathan D. Partridge; Gil Ariel; Orly Schvartz; Rasika M. Harshey; Avraham Be’er

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-34192-2

The 3D architecture of a bacterial swarm has implications for antibiotic tolerance

Jonathan D. Partridge, Gil Ariel, Orly Schvartz, Rasika M. Harshey, Avraham Be’er

Department of Mathematics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Swarming bacteria are an example of a complex, active biological system, where high cell density and super-diffusive cell mobility confer survival advantages to the group as a whole. Previous studies on the dynamics of the swarm have been limited to easily observable regions at the advancing edge of the swarm where cells are restricted to a plane. In this study, using defocused epifluorescence video imaging, we have tracked the motion of fluorescently labeled individuals within the interior of a densely packed three-dimensional (3D) region of a swarm. Our analysis reveals a novel 3D architecture, where bacteria are constrained by inter-particle interactions, sandwiched between two distinct boundary conditions. We find that secreted biosurfactants keep bacteria away from the swarm-air upper boundary, and added antibiotics at the lower swarm-surface boundary lead to their migration away from this boundary. Formation of the antibiotic-avoidance zone is dependent on a functional chemotaxis signaling system, in the absence of which the swarm loses its high tolerance to the antibiotics.

Original language	English
Article number	15823
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	8
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34192-2
State	Published - 25 Oct 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).

Funding

We thank David Andelman, Haim Diamant and Shawn Ryan for discussions and suggestions, and Philippe Delepelaire for the gift of pKOBEGA. R.M.H. is funded by NIH grant R35GM118085 and partially supported by the Welch grant F-1811. A.B. is grateful for partial support from an EU/FP7 REA grant 321777, The Israel Science Foundation’s Grant No. 337/12, and the Roy J. Zuckerberg Career Development Chair for Water Research. G.A. and A.B are thankful for partial support from The Israel Science Foundation’s Grant No. 373/16.

Funders	Funder number
EU/FP7 REA	321777
National Institutes of Health
National Institute of General Medical Sciences	R35GM118085
Welch Foundation	F-1811
Israel Science Foundation	373/16, 337/12

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The 3D architecture of a bacterial swarm has implications for antibiotic tolerance

Abstract

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Funding

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