Visualising the structure of bacterial communities: characterising a novel nutrient uptake system in Escherichia coli biofilms

Biofilms pose an increasing public health risk due to their ability to confer chemical, mechanical and environmental protection to the constituent bacteria [1]. Previous studies have shown complex fractal patterning and chirality in multi-strain colony biofilms; however, the architecture and substructure of single-strain communities is somewhat understudied. We aim to use the Mesolens to image the previously unexplored internal architecture of an intact Escherichia coli colony biofilm to better understand spatiotemporal organisation of a live bacterial community.