Multispecies biofilms are structured and spatially defined communities, where interspecies interactions impact assembly and functionality. Here, we compared the spatial organization and growth of bacterial cells in differently composed biofilm communities over time to determine links between interspecies interactions and selection for biofilm phenotypes of individual species. An established model community consisting of Stenotrophomonas rhizophila, Xanthomonas retroflexus, Microbacterium oxydans and Paenibacillus amylolyticus was used. It was found that interspecies interactions led to varying levels of selection for a new colony phenotype of X. retroflexus, depending on the presence/absence of other species. When M. oxydans was absent, X. retroflexus was not able to establish in the top layers of the biofilm, which led to selection for a hyper‐matrix forming phenotype of X. retroflexus that successfully established in the biofilm top layers. No such phenotypic X. retroflexus variants were identified in the presence of M. oxydans. These findings indicate that interspecies interactions may lead to favourable localization of individual species in a multispecies biofilm and thereby reduce selection for competitive phenotypes.

中文翻译：

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种间相互作用减少了四种生物膜模型中生物膜优化变体的选择。

多物种生物膜是结构化和空间定义的社区，其中物种间相互作用影响组装和功能。在这里，我们比较了随着时间的推移不同组成的生物膜群落中细菌细胞的空间组织和生长，以确定种间相互作用与个体物种生物膜表型选择之间的联系。使用由Stenotrophomonas rhizophila、Xanthomonas retroflexus、Microbacterium oxydans和Paenibacillus amylolyticus组成的已建立模型群落。结果发现，种间相互作用导致对X的新菌落表型进行不同程度的选择。反折肌，取决于其他物种的存在/不存在。当M。oxydans不存在，X。反曲肌无法在生物膜的顶层建立，这导致选择超矩阵形成表型X。在生物膜顶层成功建立的反曲肌。没有这样的表型X。在存在M的情况下识别出反曲变体。氧化丹。这些发现表明，种间相互作用可能导致单个物种在多物种生物膜中的有利定位，从而减少竞争表型的选择。