TY - JOUR TI - Biofilms deform soft surfaces and disrupt epithelia AU - Cont, Alice AU - Rossy, Tamara AU - Al-Mayyah, Zainebe AU - Persat, Alexandre A2 - Levin, Petra Anne A2 - Storz, Gisela A2 - Stone, Howard A VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/10/07 SP - e56533 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e56533 DO - 10.7554/eLife.56533 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56533 AB - During chronic infections and in microbiota, bacteria predominantly colonize their hosts as multicellular structures called biofilms. A common assumption is that biofilms exclusively interact with their hosts biochemically. However, the contributions of mechanics, while being central to the process of biofilm formation, have been overlooked as a factor influencing host physiology. Specifically, how biofilms form on soft, tissue-like materials remains unknown. Here, we show that biofilms of the pathogens Vibrio cholerae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa can induce large deformations of soft synthetic hydrogels. Biofilms buildup internal mechanical stress as single cells grow within the elastic matrix. By combining mechanical measurements and mutations in matrix components, we found that biofilms deform by buckling, and that adhesion transmits these forces to their substrates. Finally, we demonstrate that V. cholerae biofilms can generate sufficient mechanical stress to deform and even disrupt soft epithelial cell monolayers, suggesting a mechanical mode of infection. KW - biofilm KW - Vibrio cholerae KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa KW - biomechanics JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -