Regulating, measuring and modelling the viscoelasticity of bacterial biofilms

Samuel G.V. Charlton, Michael A. White, Saikat Jana, Lucy E. Eland, Pahala Gedara Jayathilake, J. Grant Burgess, Jinju Chen, Anil Wipat, Thomas P. Curtis
Biofilms occur in a broad range of environments with heterogeneous physico-chemical conditions, such as in bio-remediation plants, on surfaces of biomedical implants and in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. In these scenarios, biofilms are subjected to shear forces, but the mechanical integrity of these aggregates often prevents their disruption or dispersal. Their physical robustness is the result of the multiple bio-polymers secreted by constituent microbial cells which are also responsible for numerous biological functions. A better understanding of the role of these bio-polymers and their response to dynamic forces is therefore crucial for understanding the interplay between biofilm structure and function. In this manuscript, we review experimental techniques in rheology, which help quantify the viscoelasticity of biofilms, and modelling approaches from soft matter physics, that can assist our understanding of the rheological properties. We describe how these methods could be combined with synthetic biology approaches to control and investigate the effects of secreted polymers on the physical properties of biofilms. We argue that without an integrated approach of the three disciplines the links between genetics, composition and interaction of matrix biopolymers and the viscoelastic properties of biofilms will be much harder to uncover.

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