How bacterial cells colonize new territory is a problem of fundamental microbiological and biophysical interest and is key to the emergence of several phenomena of biological, ecological, and medical relevance. Here, we demonstrate how bacteria stuck in a colony of finite size can resume exploration of new territory by aquaplaning and how they fine tune biofilm viscoelasticity to surface material properties that allows them differential mobility. We show how changing local interfacial forces and colony viscosity results in a plethora of bacterial morphologies on surfaces with different physical and mechanical properties.
Keywords: B. subtilis; expansion; mathematical modeling; roughness; surface topography; viscoelasticity.