TY - JOUR TI - Flower-like patterns in multi-species bacterial colonies AU - Xiong, Liyang AU - Cao, Yuansheng AU - Cooper, Robert AU - Rappel, Wouter-Jan AU - Hasty, Jeff AU - Tsimring, Lev A2 - Weigel, Detlef A2 - Walczak, Aleksandra M A2 - Seminara, Agnese VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/01/14 SP - e48885 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e48885 DO - 10.7554/eLife.48885 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.48885 AB - Diverse interactions among species within bacterial colonies lead to intricate spatiotemporal dynamics, which can affect their growth and survival. Here, we describe the emergence of complex structures in a colony grown from mixtures of motile and non-motile bacterial species on a soft agar surface. Time-lapse imaging shows that non-motile bacteria 'hitchhike' on the motile bacteria as the latter migrate outward. The non-motile bacteria accumulate at the boundary of the colony and trigger an instability that leaves behind striking flower-like patterns. The mechanism of the front instability governing this pattern formation is elucidated by a mathematical model for the frictional motion of the colony interface, with friction depending on the local concentration of the non-motile species. A more elaborate two-dimensional phase-field model that explicitly accounts for the interplay between growth, mechanical stress from the motile species, and friction provided by the non-motile species, fully reproduces the observed flower-like patterns. KW - bacteria KW - motility KW - pattern formation KW - front instability JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -