Investigations of structure and metabolism within Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 biofilms.

Biofilms possess spatially and temporally varying metabolite concentration profiles at the macroscopic and microscopic scales. This results in varying growth environments that may ultimately drive species diversity, determine biofilm structure and the spatial distribution of the community members. Using non-invasive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) microscopic imaging/spectroscopy and confocal imaging, we investigated the kinetics and stratification of anaerobic metabolism within live biofilms of the dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1.

Oxygen-dependent autoaggregation in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1.

In aerobic chemostat cultures maintained at 50% dissolved O(2) tension (3.5 mg l(-1) dissolved O(2)), Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1 rapidly aggregated upon addition of 0.68 mM CaCl(2) and retained this multicellular phenotype at high dilution rates.