Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Biofilms

Communities in sync

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 15, pages 320–321 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

two distant biofilms could exhibit synchronized oscillations in growth rate and electrical signalling

Growth oscillations in a biofilm are driven by a negative feedback loop; biofilm growth starves interior cells, which, in response, send electrical signals to slow growth and thereby increase their access to nutrients. These oscillations are driven by long-range electrical signalling, which the authors hypothesized could affect the growth of distant biofilms. To investigate this, two distant Bacillus subtilis biofilm communities were grown in a microfluidic chamber that had a steady flow of glycerol (a carbon source) and glutamate (a nitrogen source). The expansion rate of the biofilms was measured using time-lapse phase-contrast microscopy and the dynamics of electrical signalling were recorded using the fluorescent cationic dye thioflavin T. Remarkably, two distant biofilms could exhibit synchronized oscillations in growth rate and electrical signalling, which suggests that distant communities of bacteria can interact and synchronize their behaviour.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Liu, J. et al. Coupling between distant biofilms and emergence of nutrient time-sharing. Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aah4204 (2017)

Download references

Authors
  1. Shimona Starling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Starling, S. Communities in sync. Nat Rev Microbiol 15, 320–321 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2017.46

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2017.46

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology