Figure 1. Methodology to engineer curvature in bacterial cells.

(A) A schematic diagram depicting the approach for engineering bacterial cell wall curvature by growing filamentous cells of bacteria in angled microchannels. We confined individual planktonic cells in microchannels printed into layers of agarose infused with LB nutrient media to physically impose cell curvature upon filamented bacterial cells. Bacteria were filamented using antibiotics that inhibit cell division. (B–C) Representative images of an experiment using E. coli FB76 cells comparing time points at (B) 0 min of growth and (C) 120 min of growth. In this experiment we filamented cells by infusing the agarose with 25 µg/mL of cephalexin. The values shown depict the angle that connects the two straight channel segments. Scale bars: 20 µm.