Image: EPS production by ammonia oxidisers at a low rate
Biofilm, aged 30,000 min (3 weeks). The contour lines show the oxygen concentration in mg/l. The image was rendered with POV-Ray, showing each cell as a sphere. The ammonia oxidisers ("Nitroso") are blue, and the EPS they produce is bluish (cyan); the nitrite oxidisers ("Nitro") are red. See the reaction scheme below. The grey box at the bottom is the inert substratum. Note the wrapped around boundaries in the horizontal direction. Scale: total width of the system = 200 µm.
At this lower rate of EPS production, the producing cells spend less energy on EPS synthesis and are thus able to survive. The EPS itself is assumed not to decay in the simulation shown here.
