Adapt or die? Understanding how bacterial biofilms evolve under stress

Most bacteria on earth exist within a biofilm; a community of aggregated cells. Biofilms are important in many industrial contexts and most bacterial infections include biofilms. One hallmark of biofilms is their extreme resistance to antimicrobials. However, very little is known about how bacteria in biofilms evolve and adapt to stress. We have developed a biofilm evolution model and this project aims to study how mixed communities of bacteria of different species (as seen in nature) evolve in response to stress. Using a combination of molecular microbiology, genetics and metagenomics the project will explore how bacterial populations respond to stress and, in particular how stress influences movement of mobile DNA elements such as plasmids.