This research was supported by the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award DP1 OD003584 to R.F.I. We thank S. Molin for generously providing the reporter strain, J. Shapiro and O. Zaborina for helpful discussion, and E. B. Haney for contributions to writing this manuscript.
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Communication
Microfluidic Confinement of Single Cells of Bacteria in Small Volumes Initiates High-Density Behavior of Quorum Sensing and Growth and Reveals Its Variability†
Article first published online: 29 JUN 2009
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200901550
Copyright © 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Additional Information
How to Cite
Boedicker, James Q., Vincent, Meghan E. and Ismagilov, Rustem F. (2009), Microfluidic Confinement of Single Cells of Bacteria in Small Volumes Initiates High-Density Behavior of Quorum Sensing and Growth and Reveals Its Variability. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 48: 5908–5911. doi: 10.1002/anie.200901550
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Publication History
- Issue published online: 22 JUL 2009
- Article first published online: 29 JUN 2009
- Manuscript Received: 21 MAR 2009
Funded by
- NIH
Keywords:
- bacteria;
- cell growth;
- fluorescent probes;
- microfluidics;
- quorum sensing
One is a quorum: As few as one to three cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria are confined in small volumes by the use of microfluidics. These small numbers of cells are able to activate quorum sensing (QS) pathways and achieve QS-dependent growth. The results also show that at low numbers of cells, initiation of QS is highly variable within a clonal population.