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Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 098102 (2004) [4 pages]

Commonality of Elastic Relaxation Times in Biofilms

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T. Shaw1,2, M. Winston3, C. J. Rupp3, I. Klapper1,2, and P. Stoodley2,3,*
1Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
2Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
3Department of Civil Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA

Received 23 December 2003; published 24 August 2004

Biofilms, sticky conglomerations of microorganisms and extracellular polymers, are among the Earth's most common life forms. One component for their survival is an ability to withstand external mechanical stress. Measurements indicate that biofilm elastic relaxation times are approximately the same (about 18 min) over a wide sample of biofilms though other material properties vary significantly. A possible survival significance of this time scale is that it is the shortest period over which a biofilm can mount a phenotypic response to transient mechanical stress.

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.098102
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.098102
PACS:
87.18.Ed, 46.35.+z, 83.85.Tz

*Present address: Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny General Hospital, 320 East North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212-4772.

 
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