Unravelling interspecies interactions across heterogeneities in complex biofilm communities

TY - JOUR

T1 - Unravelling interspecies interactions across heterogeneities in complex biofilm communities

AU - Røder, Henriette L.

AU - Olsen, Nanna M. C.

AU - Whiteley, Marvin

AU - Burmølle, Mette

N1 - © 2019 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2020/1/1

Y1 - 2020/1/1

N2 - The importance of microbial biofilms has been well-recognized for several decades, and focus is now shifting towards investigating multispecies biofilm communities rather than mono- or dual-species biofilms. Therefore, the demand for techniques that provide a sufficient amount of information at adequate resolution is increasing. One major challenge for multispecies studies is that diversity and spatial organization often lead to a high degree of spatial and chemical heterogeneity. Many current approaches do not account for such heterogeneity and therefore only provide average information (-omics techniques in particular), which could obscure important information about the community. Here, we bring attention to the issues of heterogeneity when analysing synthetic multi-species biofilms, in vitro, and the importance of multi-scale approaches. We provide an overview of current and newer approaches that can be applied to biofilm communities, in order to elucidate interactions at the appropriate scale.

AB - The importance of microbial biofilms has been well-recognized for several decades, and focus is now shifting towards investigating multispecies biofilm communities rather than mono- or dual-species biofilms. Therefore, the demand for techniques that provide a sufficient amount of information at adequate resolution is increasing. One major challenge for multispecies studies is that diversity and spatial organization often lead to a high degree of spatial and chemical heterogeneity. Many current approaches do not account for such heterogeneity and therefore only provide average information (-omics techniques in particular), which could obscure important information about the community. Here, we bring attention to the issues of heterogeneity when analysing synthetic multi-species biofilms, in vitro, and the importance of multi-scale approaches. We provide an overview of current and newer approaches that can be applied to biofilm communities, in order to elucidate interactions at the appropriate scale.

U2 - 10.1111/1462-2920.14834

DO - 10.1111/1462-2920.14834

M3 - Review

C2 - 31637837

SN - 1462-2912

JO - Environmental Microbiology

JF - Environmental Microbiology

ER -