Research article

Hydrophobic nature and effects of culture conditions on biofilm formation by the cellulolytic actinomycete Thermobifida fusca

  • Received: 01 July 2015 Accepted: 30 August 2015 Published: 08 September 2015
  • Thermobifida fusca produces a firmly attached biofilm on nutritive and non-nutritive surfaces, such as cellulose, glass, plastic, metal and Teflon®. The ability to bind to surfaces has been suggested as a competitive advantage for microbes in soil environments. Results of previous investigations indicated that a Gram-positive cellulolytic soil bacteria, Cellulomonas uda, a facultative aerobe, specifically adhered to nutritive surfaces forming biofilms, but cells did not colonize non-nutritive surfaces. Cell surface hydrophobicity has been implicated in the interactions between bacteria and the adhesion to surfaces. It was recently described that the cellulolytic actinomycete T. fusca cells hydrophobicity was measured and compared to the cellulolytic soil bacteria C. uda. Also, T. fusca biofilm formation on non-nutritive surface, such as polyvinyl chloride, was examined by testing various culture ingredients to determine a possible trigger mechanism for biofilm formation. Experimental results showed that partitioning of bacterial cells to various hydrocarbons was higher in T. fusca cells than in C. uda. The results of this study suggest that the attachment to multiple surfaces by T. fusca could depend on nutrient availability, pH, salt concentrations, and the higher hydrophobic nature of bacterial cells. Possibly, these characteristics may confer T. fusca a selective advantage to compete and survive among the many environments it thrives.

    Citation: Almaris N. Alonso. Hydrophobic nature and effects of culture conditions on biofilm formation by the cellulolytic actinomycete Thermobifida fusca[J]. AIMS Microbiology, 2015, 1(1): 1-10. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2015.1.1

    Related Papers:

  • Thermobifida fusca produces a firmly attached biofilm on nutritive and non-nutritive surfaces, such as cellulose, glass, plastic, metal and Teflon®. The ability to bind to surfaces has been suggested as a competitive advantage for microbes in soil environments. Results of previous investigations indicated that a Gram-positive cellulolytic soil bacteria, Cellulomonas uda, a facultative aerobe, specifically adhered to nutritive surfaces forming biofilms, but cells did not colonize non-nutritive surfaces. Cell surface hydrophobicity has been implicated in the interactions between bacteria and the adhesion to surfaces. It was recently described that the cellulolytic actinomycete T. fusca cells hydrophobicity was measured and compared to the cellulolytic soil bacteria C. uda. Also, T. fusca biofilm formation on non-nutritive surface, such as polyvinyl chloride, was examined by testing various culture ingredients to determine a possible trigger mechanism for biofilm formation. Experimental results showed that partitioning of bacterial cells to various hydrocarbons was higher in T. fusca cells than in C. uda. The results of this study suggest that the attachment to multiple surfaces by T. fusca could depend on nutrient availability, pH, salt concentrations, and the higher hydrophobic nature of bacterial cells. Possibly, these characteristics may confer T. fusca a selective advantage to compete and survive among the many environments it thrives.


    加载中
    [1] Alonso AN, Pomposiello PJ, Leshine SB (2008) Biofilm formation in the life cycle of the cellulolytic actinomycete Thermobifida fusca. Biofilms 1-11.
    [2] Banin E, Vasil ML, Greenberg EP (2005) Iron and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation. Proc Nat Acad Sci 102:11076-11081. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0504266102
    [3] Costerton JW, Lewandowski Z, Clawell DE, et al. (1995) Microbial biofilms. Annu Rev Micorbiol 49:711-745. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.49.100195.003431
    [4] Crawford DL, Gonda MA (1977) The sporulation process in Thermomonospora fusca as revealed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Can J Microbiol 23:1088-1095. doi: 10.1139/m77-164
    [5] Chaieb K, Chehab O, Zmantar T, et al. (2007) In vitro effect of pH and ethanol on biofilm formation by clinical ica-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis strains. Ann Microbiol 57: 431-537. doi: 10.1007/BF03175085
    [6] Dickson JS, Koohmaraie M (1989) Cell surface charge characteristics and their relationship to bacterial attachment to meat surfaces. Appl Env Microbiol 55: 8320836.
    [7] Dunne WM (2002) Bacterial Adhesion: Seen any good biofilms lately? Clin Microbiol Rev 15:155-166. doi: 10.1128/CMR.15.2.155-166.2002
    [8] Ghannoum M, O'Toole GA (2004) Microbial biofilms. Washington: ASM Press.
    [9] Giaourise E, Chorianopoulus N, Nychas G-JE (2005) Effect of temperature, pH and water activity on biofilm formation by Salmonella enteric Enteritidis PT4 on stainless steel surfaces as indicated by the bead vortexing method and conductance measurements. J Food Prot 68:2149-2154.
    [10] Goodfellow M, Williams ST (1983) Ecology of actinomycetes. Ann Rev Microbiol 37:189-216. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.37.100183.001201
    [11] Hägerdal BGR, Ferchak JD, Pye EK (1978) Cellulolytic enzyme system of Thermoactinomyces sp. grown on microcrystalline cellulose. Appl Environ Microbiol 36: 606-612.
    [12] O'Toole GA, Kolter R (1998) Initiation of biofilm formation in Pseudomonas fluorescens WCS365 proceeds via multiple, convergent signaling pathways: a genetic analysis. Mol Microbiol 28:449-461. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1998.00797.x
    [13] Reguera, G (2001) Chitin degradation by the facultatively aerobic cellulolytic bacterium Cellulomonas uda. [Ph. D. thesis]. [Amherst]: University of Massachusetts.
    [14] Rhodes ER, Shoemaker CJ, Menke SM, et al. (2007) Evaluation of different iron sources and their influence in biofilm formation by the dental pathogen Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. J Med Microbiol 56:119-128. doi: 10.1099/jmm.0.46844-0
    [15] Rosenberg M (1984) Bacterial adherence to hydrocarbons: a useful technique for studying cell surface hydrophobicity. FEMS Microbiol Lett 22:289-295. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1984.tb00743.x
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2015 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(5200) PDF downloads(1336) Cited by(1)

Article outline

Figures and Tables

Figures(2)  /  Tables(1)

Other Articles By Authors

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog