Pinning transition in biofilm structure driven by active layer dynamics

Abstract

Surface-attached communities of microbes, known as biofilms, are diverse in their morphologies. Characterising distinct types of biofilm spatial structure, and understanding how they emerge, can shed light on the fundamental biological and biophysical mechanisms involved, and can improve our understanding of evolution in biofilms. Here, we perform long-time individual-based simulations of growing biofilms. We observe distinct types of biofilm spatial structure depending on the parameters, and we classify these into three phases according to the behaviour of the active layer of growing cells at the biofilm interface. In the unpinned phase, the biofilm is smooth and the active layer is unbroken with no gaps. In the transiently pinned phase, short-lived gaps in the active layer arise, which can cause local parts of the biofilm interface to pin, or become stationary relative to the moving front. In the pinned phase these pinning sites persist, leading to fingering of the biofilm interface. We show that pinning arises due to the dynamical behaviour of active layer gaps, and observe that the relative magnitudes of the active layer thickness and the active layer fluctuations are important in this process. We demonstrate a direct connection between biofilm pinning and interface roughness, and we show that the pinning phase transition is well described by a control parameter that combines the average and standard deviation of the active layer thickness. Taken together, our work suggests a role for active layer dynamics in controlling pinning of the biofilm interface and hence biofilm morphology.