Emergence of ion-channel mediated electrical oscillations in Escherichia coli biofilms
Description
ABSTRACT Bacterial biofilms are communities of bacteria usually attached to solid strata and often differentiated into complex structures. Communication across biofilms has been shown to involve chemical signaling and, more recently, electrical signaling in Gram positive biofilms. We report for the first time, community-level synchronized membrane potential dynamics in three-dimensional E. coli biofilms. Two hyperpolarization events are observed in response to light stress. The first requires mechanically sensitive ion channels (MscK, MscL and MscS) and the second needs the Kch-potassium channel. The channels mediated both local spiking of single E. coli biofilms and long-range coordinated electrical signaling in E. coli biofilms. The electrical phenomena are explained using Hodgkin-Huxley and 3D fire-diffuse-fire agentbased models. These data demonstrate that electrical wavefronts based on potassium ions are a mechanism by which signaling occurs in Gram negative biofilms and as such may represent a conserved mechanism for communication across biofilms.
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The data deposited here are for the article 'Emergence of ion-channel mediated electrical oscillations in Escherichia coli biofilms'. The raw data is provided here. The region of interest considered are as provided in the main figures and videos and also supplementary figures and videos. Note: In the microscopic data analysis, only viable, sessile single cells and biofilms which have lost their flagellar and attached on the microfluidic were considered. The key steps for the analyses in Imagej and BiofilmQ softwares are fully stated in the article (See Material and Methods).