Summary
The biofilm lifestyle, where microbial cells are aggregated because of expression of cell‐to‐cell interconnecting compounds, is believed to be of paramount importance to microbes in the ...environment. Because microbes must be able to alternate between sessile and planktonic states, it is anticipated that they must be able to regulate their ability to form biofilm and to dissolve biofilm. We present an investigation of a biofilm dissolution process occurring in flow‐chamber‐grown Pseudomonas putida biofilms. Local starvation‐induced biofilm dissolution appears to be an integrated part of P. putida biofilm development that causes characteristic structural rearrangements. Rapid global dissolution of entire P. putida biofilms was shown to occur in response to carbon starvation. Genetic analysis suggested that the adjacent P. putida genes PP0164 and PP0165 play a role in P. putida biofilm formation and dissolution. PP0164 encodes a putative periplasmic protein of previously unknown function, and PP0164 mutant bacteria are sticky, and unable to reduce their adhesiveness and dissolve their biofilm in response to carbon starvation. PP0165 encodes a putative transmembrane protein containing GGDEF and EAL domains, and PP0165 mutant bacteria are unable to increase their adhesiveness and form biofilm. We suggest that the PP0164 and PP0165 proteins are involved in the regulation of the adhesiveness of the bacteria; the PP0165 protein through c‐di‐GMP signalling, and the PP0164 protein as a transducer of the signal.
The structural organization of four microbial communities was analysed by a novel computer program, COMSTAT, which comprises ten features for quantifying three-dimensional biofilm image stacks. ...Monospecies biofilms of each of the four bacteria, Pseudomonas: putida, P. aureofaciens, P. fluorescens and P. aeruginosa, tagged with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) were grown in flow chambers with a defined minimal medium as substrate. Analysis by the COMSTAT program of four variables describing biofilm structure - mean thickness, roughness, substratum coverage and surface to volume ratio - showed that the four Pseudomonas: strains represent different modes of biofilm growth. P. putida had a unique developmental pattern starting with single cells on the substratum growing into micro-colonies, which were eventually succeeded by long filaments and elongated cell clusters. P. aeruginosa colonized the entire substratum, and formed flat, uniform biofilms. P. aureofaciens resembled P. aeruginosa, but had a stronger tendency to form micro-colonies. Finally, the biofilm structures of P. fluorescens had a phenotype intermediate between those of P. putida and P. aureofaciens. Analysis of biofilms of P. aureofaciens growing on 0.03 mM, 0.1 mM or 0.5 mM citrate minimal media showed that mean biofilm thickness increased with increasing citrate concentration. Moreover, biofilm roughness increased with lower citrate concentrations, whereas surface to volume ratio increased with higher citrate concentrations.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen which is responsible for a wide range of infections. Production of virulence factors and biofilm formation by P. aeruginosa are partly regulated by ...cell-to-cell communication quorum-sensing systems. Identification of quorum-quenching reagents which block the quorum-sensing process can facilitate development of novel treatment strategies for P. aeruginosa infections. We have used molecular dynamics simulation and experimental studies to elucidate the efficiencies of two potential quorum-quenching reagents, triclosan and green tea epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which both function as inhibitors of the enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase (ENR) from the bacterial type II fatty acid synthesis pathway. Our studies suggest that EGCG has a higher binding affinity towards ENR of P. aeruginosa and is an efficient quorum-quenching reagent. EGCG treatment was further shown to be able to attenuate the production of virulence factors and biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa.
Increased tolerance to antimicrobial agents is thought to be an important feature of microbes growing in biofilms. We address the question of how biofilm organization affects antibiotic ...susceptibility. We established Escherichia coli biofilms with differential structural organization due to the presence of IncF plasmids expressing altered forms of the transfer pili in two different biofilm model systems. The mature biofilms were subsequently treated with two antibiotics with different molecular targets, the peptide antibiotic colistin and the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin. The dynamics of microbial killing were monitored by viable count determination, and confocal laser microscopy. Strains forming structurally organized biofilms show an increased bacterial survival when challenged with colistin, compared to strains forming unstructured biofilms. The increased survival is due to genetically regulated tolerant subpopulation formation and not caused by a general biofilm property. No significant difference in survival was detected when the strains were challenged with ciprofloxacin. Our data show that biofilm formation confers increased colistin tolerance to cells within the biofilm structure, but the protection is conditional being dependent on the structural organization of the biofilm, and the induction of specific tolerance mechanisms.
In this chapter methods for growing and analyzing biofilms under hydrodynamic conditions in flow cells are described. Use of flow cells allows for direct microscopic investigation of biofilm ...formation. The flow in these chambers is essentially laminar, which means that the biofilms can be grown under highly controlled conditions, and that perturbations such as addition of antibiotics or change of the growth medium can be done efficiently at a defined time point. The protocol includes construction of the flow cell and the bubble trap, assembly and sterilization of the flow cell system, inoculation of the flow cells, running of the system, confocal laser scanning microscopy and image analysis, and disassembly and cleaning of the system.
Microbial activities are most often shaped by interactions between co-existing microbes within mixed-species communities. Dissection of the molecular mechanisms of species interactions within ...communities is a central issue in microbial ecology, and our ability to engineer and control microbial communities depends, to a large extent, on our knowledge of these interactions. This review highlights the recent advances regarding molecular characterization of microbe-microbe interactions that modulate community structure, activity, and stability, and aims to illustrate how these findings have helped us reach an engineering-level understanding of microbial communities in relation to both human health and industrial biotechnology.
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