Collective stress tolerance during bacterial swarming

ORAL

Abstract

Bacterial populations such as biofilms and swarming colonies often survive under antibiotic treatment at concentrations lethal to individual cells. Here we used the model bacterium E. coli to investigate how motility affects the collective tolerance. We quantified the single cell motion pattern in swarms under stress and studied the relation between single cell motility and colony expansion. Our results suggest a general means of stress-response for bacterial swarms.

*This work was supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong SAR (RGC numbers 2130439 and 2130493), and from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 21473152).

–

Presenters

  • Wenlong Zuo

    • Shenzhen Research Institute and Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Authors

  • Wenlong Zuo

    • Shenzhen Research Institute and Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • Yilin Wu

    • Chinese Univ of Hong Kong
    • Shenzhen Research Institute and Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
    • Shenzhen Research Institute and and Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong