Bacteria often live in communities of mixed species embedded in a self-produced extracellular matrix of polysaccharides, proteins and DNA, termed biofilms. The BioFlux microfluidic flow system is useful for studying biofilm formation in different media under flow. However, analyzing the architecture and maturation of biofilms under flow requires a proper seeding, which can prove difficult when working with bacteria of different sizes, motile bacteria or aiming for a high number of replicates. Here we developed an efficient protocol that exploits viscosity tuning and seeding indicator dyes to improve seeding and allow for high-throughput examination and visualization of consistent mono- and mixed-species biofilm developments under flow.

中文翻译：

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流体阻力控制可实现高通量建立混合物种生物膜。

细菌通常生活在混合物种的群落中，该群落嵌入自生的多糖，蛋白质和DNA的细胞外基质中，称为生物膜。BioFlux微流体流动系统可用于研究流动下不同介质中生物膜的形成。但是，分析流动状态下生物膜的结构和成熟需要适当的接种，这在使用不同大小的细菌，活动细菌或进行大量重复实验时可能会很困难。在这里，我们开发了一种有效的方案，该方案利用粘度调节剂和接种指示剂染料来改善接种效果，并允许高通量检查和可视化一致的单物种和混合物种生物膜在流动情况下的发展。