Spatial alanine metabolism determines local growth dynamics of <i>Escherichia coli</i> colonies.
Francisco Díaz-Pascual, Martin Lempp, Kazuki Nosho, Hannah Jeckel, Jeanyoung Jo, Konstantin Neuhaus, Raimo Hartmann, Eric Jelli, Mads Frederik Hansen, Alexa Price‐Whelan, Lars E. P. Dietrich, Hannes Link, Knut Drescher
Abstract
the enzymes DadA and DadX. This spatially structured alanine cross-feeding influences cellular viability and growth in the cross-feeding-dependent region, which shapes the overall colony morphology. More generally, our results on this precisely controllable biofilm model system demonstrate a remarkable spatiotemporal complexity of metabolism in biofilms. A better characterization of the spatiotemporal metabolic heterogeneities and dependencies is essential for understanding the physiology, architecture, and function of biofilms.