Of microscopes and microbes : characterising a novel nutrient uptake system in Escherichia coli biofilms

Rooney, Liam M. and Hoskisson, Paul A. and McConnell, Gail (2019) Of microscopes and microbes : characterising a novel nutrient uptake system in Escherichia coli biofilms. In: FEMS 2019, 2019-07-07 - 2019-07-11, SEC Centre.

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Abstract

Biofilms pose a public health risk due to their ability to protect bacteria from mechanical, environmental and chemical factors. Thereby they can confer resistance to their constituent bacteria and serve as a vehicle for spread of antimicrobial resistance [1]. Previous studies have shown complex fractal patterning and chirality in multi-strain colony biofilms; however, the architecture and substucture of single-strain communities is somewhat understudied. We aim to use the Mesolens to image the previously unexplored internal architecture of an intact Escherichia coli colony biofilm to better understand spatiotemporal organisation of a live acterial community.