Fig 1.
The growth curve of Escherichia coli ATCC # 25922 in LB broth in the presence of antimicrobial AgNbO3 particles with different concentrations.
Each point is the average of three biological replicas.
Fig 2.
The morphological dynamics of three colonies grown on the surface of an agar gel and monitored with time lapse microscopy over 5 h of incubation.
The contours indicate the colony boundary in the following order: Blue oval in center: Colony at t = 1 h, Violet: 2 h, Yellow: 3 h, Green: 4 h, and Red: 5 h.
Fig 3.
The schematic layered structure of a typical colony over incubation time.
Schematics adapted from the reference [29], along with recorded dark-field images of a typical colony.
Fig 4.
Shape of Escherichia coli colonies in two separate inocula on different BAP plates after leaving at room temperature overnight with varying concentrations of AgNbO3.
Table 1.
The statistics on the sizes of colonies grown on two 1.75 mm × 1.17 mm rectangular sections of two inoculated spots, having different surface density of particles, after 6 h incubation.
Fig 5.
The average size of microbial cells grown on a gel surface having antimicrobial particles with surface densities of 5 and 10 ng/mm2 as compared to the size of colonies grown on a normal gel.
Fig 6.
Evolution of the morphology of three representative colonies in the presence of different antimicrobial particle concentrations.
First row: no antimicrobial particles, Second row: having antimicrobial particles with a surface density of 5 ng/mm2, and Third row: having antimicrobial particles with a surface density of 10 ng/mm2. Color code: Violet (2 h), Green (4 h), Red (5 h), and Cyan (6 h). The images of the colony after different incubation times are also shown at the corners in each case (starting from 2 h at upper left corner moving counterclockwise: 2 h, 4 h, 5 h, and 6 h). The antimicrobial particles are represented by solid gray points.
Fig 7.
The photo of a typical colony after 5 h of incubation on a spot with particle concentration of 5 ng/mm2.
The photo is overlaid with particle aggregates represented by proportionally sized circles. Also represented is the contour of the colony at earlier incubation times (violet 2 h, green 4 h). The dashed scale circles start from d = 10 μm for the innermost and continue and continue with 10 μm increment ending with d = 70 μm for the outermost. The diameter of the dashed blue circle is 50 μm.
Fig 8.
The optical density of the broth in which the Escherichia coli ATCC # 25922 cells contacted with the surfaces of PMMA samples, having different amounts of AgNbO3, are incubated.
Each data point is average over 3 biological replicas.