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Biofilm Growth

with Mark Peletier




See a simulation movie of a growing gel. This gel converts nutrient into gel and then expands because of swelling pressure. The reality is that a typical biofilm does not begin to make gel until the size of the community is large enough. The switch to turn on gel production is called quorum sensing and is mediated by a chemical called the autoinducer. In this simulation movie is shown the growth of a colony with quorum sensing. Notice that the colony starts out quite dense, but when the gel production begins, the density of the colony drops substantially. There are mutants that cannot make the autoinducer (the signally molecule for quorum sensing. In this simulation movie is shown what happens to a colony that cannot make autoinducer. In this simulation movie, there is no bacterial growth, but the bacteria make gel which enables the bacteria to move.



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Jim Keener
2000-09-06