Role of physical interactions in early stages of biofilm formations

Bacteria often live in surface attached communities called biofilms. Most interactions in biofilms affect physically nearby cells, so the outcome of bacterial interactions depends on the population’s spatial structure. Biofilm structure is reminiscent of the structure of glasses; both are densely packed and structurally disordered. Glasses are non-equilibrium solids, whose properties depend on how they are formed, as well as how long they have been aging. However, little is known about how biofilm structure is impacted by details about how the biofilm was formed. Here we develop a three dimensional agent based model of biofilm formation to investigate the role of physical and biological interactions in biofilm formation.