Studying Microbial Communities in Biofilms

Most microorganisms in nature subsist as heterogeneous surface-associated communities called biofilms. In biofilms members of one or more microbial species live together for multiple generations, and this allows them to cooperate and co-adapt. The ability to reliably manipulate, characterize, and engineer microbial biofilms will enable controlled studies of ecosystem dynamics and unprecedented design opportunities for biological sensors and actuators. Biofilms can be grown in the laboratory, and spatial structure, gene expression, and productivity (total biomass accumulation) can be observed and quantified as a function of time using confocal laser scanning microscopy. This chapter details the materials and methods necessary to grow and study engineered microbial communities in biofilms.