Hybrid Model of Bacterial Biofilm Growth

Bacterial biofilms play a critical role in environmental processes, water treatment, human health, and food processing. They exhibit highly complex dynamics due to the interactions between the bacteria and the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), water, and nutrients and minerals that make up the biofilm. We present a hybrid computational model in which the dynamics of discrete bacterial cells are simulated within a multiphase continuum, consisting of EPS and water as separate interacting phases, through which nutrients and minerals diffuse. Bacterial cells in our model consume water and nutrients in order to grow, divide, and produce EPS. Consequently, EPS flows outward from the bacterial colony, while water flows inward. The model predicts bacterial colony formation as a treelike structure. The distribution of bacterial growth and EPS production is found to be sensitive to the pore spacing between bacteria and the consumption of nutrients within the bacterial colony. Forces that are sometimes neglected in biofilm simulations, such as lubrication force between nearby bacterial cells and osmotic (swelling) pressure force resulting from gradients in EPS concentration, are observed to have an important effect on biofilm growth via their influence on bacteria pore spacing and associated water/nutrient percolation into the bacterial colony.