Development of a tomato xylem-mimicking microfluidic system to study biofilm formation.

The bacterial wilt pathogen colonizes plant xylem vessels and blocks the flow of xylem sap by its biofilm (comprising of bacterial cells and extracellular material), resulting in devastating wilt disease across many economically important host plants including tomatoes. The technical challenges of imaging the xylem environment, along with the use of artificial cell culture plates and media in existing systems, limit the understanding of biofilm formation and its infection dynamics. In this study, we designed and built a microfluidic system that mimicked the physical and chemical conditions of the tomato xylem vessels, and allowed us to dissect responses to different xylem-like conditions.