Fig. 8: Species combinatorics highlights community-specific traits.

a Fluorescence signals of Bt (upper row) and Pf (lower row) in various sub-combinations of the four species: single-species (left column), pairs (second and thrird column), and triplets (right colum). b The consecutive frames correlation coefficient for Bt (left) and Pf (right) for the different combinations are provided on the figure. The experimental conditions other than the biofilm composition were the same as in Fig. 3. c Micro-optical density of the Kv single-species biofilm (in blue) and the Kv-Rh pair (in purple; graph on the left); the dashed line shows the level of Kv development in the presence of Bt alone, Pf alone, and Pf and Bt together, deduced from the Kv area determination and the mean µOD of a Kv cluster. Images on the right are snapshots of the single-species biofilm taken at time t = 10 min (left upper); 3h30 (center upper); 9 h (right upper); 15 h (left center); 16h30 (center center); 18h30 (right center); 23h30 (left lower); 27h30 (center lower); and 30 h (right lower). d Micro-optical density of Rh single-species biofilm (graph on the left) and corresponding snapshots taken at time t = 10 h (upper); 25 h (center); and 37 h (lower). The curve of the studied combination in each panel (bold color line) is the average of at least three independent samples and appears shaded with the standard deviation of the data set. The curve of the corresponding species in the 4S community is plotted in gray for comparison. Scale bars represent 20 µm.