Fig. 1. Fungal-bacterial interactions and morphological heterogeneity within wound environments.

Scanning electron micrographs of ex vivo wounds at four different magnifications (×100, ×500, ×2000, ×10000). Fungal-bacterial biofilms were grown using both staggered and simultaneous inoculation models in a subset of combinations to illustrate effects of priority and interbacterial competition. Microbes were growth for up to 48 h before SEM processing in 6 mm excisional wounds on 12 mm punch biopsies of human skin suspended in a DMEM-agarose gel at 37 °C, 5% CO₂. A C. albicans mono-infection. White arrowheads point to examples of yeast aggregates while black arrowheads point to hyphal networks. B C. albicans as early colonizer and C. freundii as late colonizer. C C. albicans and C. freundii simultaneously coinoculated. For imaging of putative pili on C. freundii, magnification was increased to ×20,000 as needed. D C. albicans as early colonizer and C. freundii + S. aureus as late colonizers. Dashed outlines represent region magnified.