Abstract
Microbial communities are complex heterogeneous systems that are dramatically influenced by physical and chemical interactions with their environment, host, and community membership. Multiple –omics techniques are available to provide insights into the genes, proteins and small molecules that drive such interactions. However, these techniques do not directly address the influence of spatial organization and chemical transport on community architecture and function. Techniques that facilitate the quantitative evaluation of how spatial organization influences the morphogenesis of multispecies communities could provide valuable insights into the dynamic behavior and organization of natural communities. In this work we demonstrate a method to pattern bacterial strains into simple arrangements that allow the quantitative measurement of bacterial growth dynamics as a function of their proximity to one another. The method combines parylene-based liftoff techniques with microfluidic delivery to pattern multiple bacterial species simultaneously with high viability and a resolution well below conventional pin-spotting or inkjet techniques. Quantitative measurements of bacterial growth for two competing isolates demonstrate that spatial coordination can play a critical role in multispecies growth and structure.
