Fluidic resistance control enables high-throughput establishment of mixed-species biofilms.
Bacteria often live in communities of mixed species embedded in a self-produced extracellular matrix of polysaccharides, proteins and DNA, termed biofilms. The BioFlux microfluidic flow system is useful for studying biofilm formation in different media under flow. However, analyzing the architecture and maturation of biofilms under flow requires a proper seeding, which can prove difficult when working with bacteria of different sizes, motile bacteria or aiming for a high number of replicates. Here we developed an efficient protocol that exploits viscosity tuning and seeding indicator dyes to improve seeding and allow for high-throughput examination and visualization of consistent mono- and mixed-species biofilm developments under flow.
['Hansen|Mads Frederik|MF|', 'Torp|Anders Meyer|AM|', 'Madsen|Jonas Stenløkke|JS|', 'Røder|Henriette Lyng|HL|', 'Burmølle|Mette|M|']
D018441:Biofilms D064307:Microbiota D044085:Microfluidics D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa D033081:Shear Strength D013314:Stress, Mechanical
BioFlux microfluidic flow systems biofilm formation CLSM biofilm analysis biofilm device biofilm seeding microfluidic device mixed species biofilm shear stress