A unique self-organization of bacterial sub-communities creates iridescence in Cellulophaga lytica colony biofilms

Betty Kientz , Stephen Luke , Peter Vukusic , Renaud Peteri (1) , Cyrille Beaudry (1) , Tristan Renault (2) , Simon David (3) , Tâm Mignot (4, 5) , Eric Rosenfeld (6)

1 MIA - Mathématiques, Image et Applications - EA 3165
2 SGMM - Unité Santé, Génétique et Microbiologie des Mollusques
3 Optimisation continue des actions thérapeutiques par l'intégration d'informations
4 LCB - Laboratoire de chimie bactérienne
5 IMM - Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée
6 LIENSs - LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés

Iridescent color appearances are widespread in nature. They arise from the interaction of light with micron- and submicron-sized physical structures spatially arranged with periodic geometry and are usually associated with bright angle-dependent hues. Iridescence has been reported for many animals and marine organisms. However, iridescence has not been well studied in bacteria. Recently, we reported a brilliant “pointillistic” iridescence in colony biofilms of marine Flavobacteria that exhibit gliding motility. The mechanism of their iridescence is unknown. Here, using a multi-disciplinary approach, we show that the cause of iridescence is a unique periodicity of the cell population in the colony biofilm. Cells are arranged together to form hexagonal photonic crystals. Our model highlights a novel pattern of self-organization in a bacterial biofilm. ”Pointillistic” bacterial iridescence can be considered a new light-dependent phenomenon for the field of microbiology

Domaines: Biochimie [q-bio.BM]

Betty Kientz, Stephen Luke, Peter Vukusic, Renaud Peteri, Cyrille Beaudry, et al.. A unique self-organization of bacterial sub-communities creates iridescence in Cellulophaga lytica colony biofilms . Scientific Reports of the Port-Cros National Park, 2016, ⟨10.1038/srep19906⟩. ⟨hal-01458822⟩