Formation and Dissolution of Bacterial Colonies

TL;DR

This paper develops a hydrodynamic model based on kinetic descriptions to understand how bacterial colonies form and dissolve, aligning with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hydrodynamic equation derived from kinetic models to explain bacterial colony dynamics.

Findings

Hydrodynamic model predicts colony sizes matching experiments.

Model captures formation and dissolution processes.

Provides insights into physical mechanisms of bacterial colony behavior.

Abstract

Many organisms form colonies for a transient period of time to withstand environmental pressure. Bacterial biofilms are a prototypical example of such behavior. Despite significant interest across disciplines, physical mechanisms governing the formation and dissolution of bacterial colonies are still poorly understood. Starting from a kinetic description of motile and interacting cells we derive a hydrodynamic equation for their density on a surface. We use it to describe formation of multiple colonies with sizes consistent with experimental data and to discuss their dissolution.