Surface colonization underpins microbial ecology on terrestrial environments. Although factors that mediate bacteria-substrate adhesion have been extensively studied, their spatiotemporal dynamics during the establishment of microcolonies remains largely unexplored. Here, we use laser ablation and force microscopy to monitor single-cell adhesion during the course of microcolony formation. We find that adhesion forces of the rod-shaped bacteria Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are polar. This asymmetry induces mechanical tension, and drives daughter cell rearrangements, which eventually determine the shape of the microcolonies. Informed by experimental data, we develop a quantitative model of microcolony morphogenesis that enables the prediction of bacterial adhesion strength from simple time-lapse measurements. Our results demonstrate how patterns of surface colonization derive from the spatial distribution of adhesive factors on the cell envelope.

中文翻译：

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棒状细菌的不对称粘附控制了小菌落的形态发生。

表面定殖为陆地环境下的微生物生态奠定了基础。尽管已经广泛研究了介导细菌-基质粘附的因素，但在建立小菌落期间其时空动态仍未得到充分研究。在这里，我们使用激光消融和力显微镜来监测小菌落形成过程中的单细胞粘附。我们发现棒状细菌大肠杆菌和铜绿假单胞菌的粘附力是极性的。这种不对称引起机械张力，并驱动子细胞重排，最终决定了微菌落的形状。根据实验数据，我们开发了一种小菌落形态发生的定量模型，该模型能够通过简单的时移测量来预测细菌的粘附强度。