Abstract
We describe a novel method which makes use of polymer-based aqueous two-phase systems to pattern bacterial communities inside Petri dishes. This method allows us to culture submillimeter-sized bacterial communities in spatially distinct spots while maintaining a degree of chemical connectedness to each other through the aqueous phase. Given sufficient time, these bacterial cultures develop biofilms, each corresponding to the footprint of the droplet spot. This method can be used to study the interactions between bacterial communities and biofilms spotted adjacent to each other. Furthermore, it can be extended to study the interactions between different bacterial communities and an underlying epithelial cell layer.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Toshiyuki Yaguchi at Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, and Dr. Brendan M. Leung at the University of Michigan, USA, for their contributions in establishing the protocols discussed in this chapter.
This work was supported by a grant from the Creativity and Innovation Project funded by Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) (Grant #1.120051.01) and by the World Class University (WCU) program (No. R322008000200540) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) as funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). The authors appreciate the support.
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Dwidar, M., Takayama, S., Mitchell, R.J. (2014). Aqueous Two-Phase System Technology for Patterning Bacterial Communities and Biofilms. In: Donelli, G. (eds) Microbial Biofilms. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1147. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0467-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0467-9_2
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