This mirrors work showing aggregates more effectively capture extracellular metabolites (doi.org/10.1371/jour...) and that flocculation improves crossfeeding (doi.org/10.1038/s415...)! Thus, the benefits of synthetic flocculation could relate more to metabolite sharing than diffusion limitations.
Overall, non-specific and multivalent adhesion could be a powerful tool for constructing aggregates, and improved growth in nutrient-limited settings are a promising new application. Check out the full preprint here! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...