For each habitat we calculated the ratio of the average difference in population distributions of

habitats inoculated from the same cultures ( same >) relative to the average difference to all habitats inoculated from different cultures ( different >): d relative = same >/ different >. The red arrows indicate , obtained by averaging log[d relative ] over all habitats of a given device type. The blue distribution shows the values of relative > obtained Selleckchem C59 wnt using 10.000 randomizations, where each population distribution was assigned to a randomly chosen habitat. Note that values of d relative were log transformed before averaging, the figure shows the back-transformed values. (A) Devices of type-1. (B) Devices of type 2. Note how in all cases the relative > for the real dataset (in red) is much lower than the relative > obtained from the randomized dataset (in blue). *** indicates p < 0.001. (C) Comparison of the degree of similarity observed in type-1 and 2 devices combined to that observed in devices of type-5. For both groups the differences between population distributions in habitats inoculated from the same culture set (d same ) and the Carfilzomib difference between population distributions in habitats inoculated from different culture sets (d different ) is shown. Values of d same and d different obtained for habitats inoculated from the same culture sets were averaged together. N.S. indicates p > 0.05 in a Wilcoxon rank sum test

(comparison of d different between type 1 and 5 devices) or Wilcoxon signed rank test (comparison between d same and d different for type 5 devices). (PDF 123 KB) Additional SPTLC1 file 10: Device type-4 where the two habitats where inoculated in reverse orientation. (A) Kymograph of fluorescence intensity for a device of type-4, where only the two outer most habitats

are used. The orientation of inoculation was reversed for the two habitats, i.e. the red strain was inoculated from the right into habitat 1 and from left into habitat 2, see panel B. Note that the kymograph of habitat 2 is horizontally mirrored to reveal the similarity with habitat 1. (B) Schematic of the inoculation locations. (PDF 4 MB) Additional file 11: Experimental Protocol. Protocol for the experiments using type-1 (top part), type-2 (middle part) and type-5 (lower apart) devices. Devices 10 and 11 (type-2) were imaged in parallel on the same microscope setup, after being inoculate from the same set of initial cultures. For devices of types 1 and 2 overnight cultures were started by taking a sample (of undefined volume) from a single −80°C stock for each strain, for devices of type-5 these same −80°C stocks (one for each strain) were split into aliquots and each overnight culture was started using a defined volume of a thawed aliquot. The following morning cultures were back-diluted 1:1000 to result in the initial culture with which the devices were inoculated. (PDF 384 KB) Additional file 12: Overview of all devices of type-5.