Data from: Control of hydroid colony form by surface heterogeneity

The colonial hydroid Podocoryna carnea grows adherent to surfaces progressing along them by a motile stolon tip. We here ask whether the stolon tip grows preferentially within grooves etched in silicon wafers. In a series of pilot experiments, we varied the dimensions of grooves and found that stolons did not utilize grooves with a width:depth of 5:5 μm or 10:10 μm, occasionally followed grooves 25:25 μm in size, and preferentially grew within grooves of a width:depth of 50:50 μm and 100:50 μm. We then grew colonies in grids, with fixed 50:50 μm width:depth channels intersecting at 90° every 950, 700, 450, or 150 μm. We find that stolons grew within grooves early in colony ontogeny, but remained restricted to them only in the grid pattern with channel intersections every 150 μm. Finally, we created a grid in the shape of the Yale Y logo, with channels of 50:50 μm width:depth and intersections every 100 μm. The resulting colonies conformed to that of the logo. Our findings demonstrate that stolons respond to surface heterogeneity and that surface etching can be used to fabricate microfluidic circuits comprised of hydroid perisarc.群体水螅虫*Podocoryna carnea*可附着于表面生长，并通过可运动的匍匐茎（stolon）尖端沿表面延伸。本研究旨在探究其匍匐茎尖端是否优先在硅片蚀刻出的沟槽内生长。在一系列预实验中，我们调整了沟槽的尺寸参数，结果发现：匍匐茎不会利用宽深比为5:5 μm或10:10 μm的沟槽，仅偶尔会沿尺寸为25:25 μm的沟槽行进，而优先在宽深比为50:50 μm与100:50 μm的沟槽内生长。随后，我们在网格结构中培养该菌落，网格内的通道固定为宽深比50:50 μm，且通道以90°夹角相交，相邻交点间距分别为950 μm、700 μm、450 μm或150 μm。研究发现，在菌落发育早期，匍匐茎会在沟槽内生长，但仅在相邻交点间距为150 μm的网格结构中，匍匐茎才会完全局限于沟槽内生长。最后，我们构建了耶鲁（Yale）Y形校徽形状的网格结构，其通道宽深比为50:50 μm，相邻交点间距为100 μm，最终形成的菌落完全贴合该校徽形状。本研究结果表明，匍匐茎可响应表面异质性，且可通过表面蚀刻技术制备由水螅虫围鞘构成的微流控回路。