Active laser tweezers microrheometry of microbial biofilms

Microbial biofilms are present on biotic and abiotic surfaces and have a significant impact on many fields in industry, health care and technology. Thus, a better understanding of processes that lead to development of biofilms and their chemical and mechanical properties is needed. In the following paper we report the results of active laser tweezers microrheology study of optically inhomogeneous extracellular matrix secreted by Visbrio sp. bacteria. One particle and two particle active microrheology were used in experiments. Both methods exhibited high enough sensitivity to detect viscosity changes at early stages of bacterial growth. We also showed that both methods can be used in mature samples where optical inhomogeneity becomes significant.