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Breaking Away |
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Shear induced creep and detachment ofPseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 biofilm streamer |
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This movie shows how a P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilm deformed over time when
held at an elevated shear stress. The biofilm was grown in a glass flow cell
under turbulent flow at a flow velocity of 1 m/s. At high shears biofilms
commonly form filamentous streamers which are attached to the solid surface by
an upstream "head" while the "tail" is free to oscillate in the flow. The
biofilm streamer stretched out when the flow velocity was turned up to 1.5 m/s
and continued to elongate over time, demonstrating the viscous nature of the
biofilm. During this time the biofilm was actually flowing like a viscous
liquid. After 50 minutes the streamer tail broke away. Image analysis showed the
formation of a neck region prior to failure.
Movie Author: P. Stoodley
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