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The Journal of Biological Chemistry Jun 2016Exopolysaccharides play an important structural and functional role in the development and maintenance of microbial biofilms. Although the majority of research to date... (Review)
Review
Exopolysaccharides play an important structural and functional role in the development and maintenance of microbial biofilms. Although the majority of research to date has focused on the exopolysaccharide systems of biofilm-forming bacteria, recent studies have demonstrated that medically relevant fungi such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus also form biofilms during infection. These fungal biofilms share many similarities with those of bacteria, including the presence of secreted exopolysaccharides as core components of the extracellular matrix. This review will highlight our current understanding of fungal biofilm exopolysaccharides, as well as the parallels that can be drawn with those of their bacterial counterparts.
Topics: Antifungal Agents; Aspergillus fumigatus; Biofilms; Candida albicans; Fungal Polysaccharides; Fungi; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Mycoses; Polysaccharides, Bacterial
PubMed: 27129222
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.R116.720995 -
Microbial Biotechnology Sep 2016As we look into the future of microbial biofilm research, there is clearly an emerging focus on communities rather than populations. This represents an essential change... (Review)
Review
As we look into the future of microbial biofilm research, there is clearly an emerging focus on communities rather than populations. This represents an essential change in direction to more accurately understand how and why microorganisms assemble into communities, as well as the functional implications for such a life style. For example, current research studies shows that communities display emergent properties or functions that are not predicted from the individual single species populations, including elevated stress tolerance and resistance to antibiotics. Models for mixed species biofilms can be very simple, comprised only a handful of species or can be extremely species rich, with hundreds or thousands of species present. The future holds much promise for this area of research, where investigators will increasingly be able to resolve, at the molecular and biochemical levels, interspecies relationships and mechanisms of interaction. The outcome of these studies will greatly enhance our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors that drive community function in natural and engineered systems.
Topics: Biofilms; Microbial Consortia; Microbial Interactions
PubMed: 27471123
DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.12390 -
Chemosphere Jun 2021Riverine runoff is a significant transport pathway for microplastics (MPs) discharged from land-based sources to marine environments where MPs accumulate. Knowledge of...
Riverine runoff is a significant transport pathway for microplastics (MPs) discharged from land-based sources to marine environments where MPs accumulate. Knowledge of riverine MP-associated biofilms will improve the understanding of the fate and potential effects of MPs in marine environments. This study aimed to characterize the microbial biofilms colonizing MPs in the riverine water of the Pearl River Delta, China, and identify the seasonal, geographical and environmental influences on MP-associated communities. We sampled MPs and the surrounding surface water from eight outlets in three seasons and analyzed their microbial communities by Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene libraries. Across all sampling seasons and locations, abundant MP-colonizing taxa belonged to the phylum Proteobacteria, which suggested initial biofilm development on those MPs. The structure and composition of MP-attached microbial communities varied with respect to season and location, and the microbial diversity of the MP-associated biofilm communities decreased in June compared with that in the April and November sampling events. Opportunistic pathogens of the genus Acinetobacter were significantly enriched on the MP surfaces for all sampling events. Among the 15 environmental variables examined, the main drivers of MP-associated biofilm community composition included IC, alkalinity, TOC, TDS, Cl, NO, NO and pH. This study provides an insight into the environmental factors that shape microbial biofilm colonization on MPs in estuary environments and a further understanding of the structure, diversity and ecological roles of MP-associated communities.
Topics: Biofilms; China; Environmental Monitoring; Microplastics; Plastics; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Rivers; Water Pollutants, Chemical
PubMed: 33607493
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129870 -
IUBMB Life Jul 2020Biofilms are microbial communities established in the self-produced extracellular substances that include up to 80% of associated microbial infections. During biofilm... (Review)
Review
Biofilms are microbial communities established in the self-produced extracellular substances that include up to 80% of associated microbial infections. During biofilm formation, bacterial cells shift from the planktonic forms to aggregated forms surrounded by an extracellular polymeric substance. The bacterial biofilm shows resistance against immune reactions as well as antibiotics and is potentially able to cause disorders by both device-related and nondevice-related infections. The nondevice-related bacterial biofilm infections include dental plaque, urinary tract infections, cystic fibrosis, otitis media, infective endocarditis, tonsillitis, periodontitis, necrotizing fasciitis, osteomyelitis, infectious kidney stones, and chronic inflammatory diseases. In this review, we will summarize and examine the literature about bacterial biofilm infections unrelated to indwelling devices.
Topics: Animals; Bacterial Infections; Biofilms; Catheters, Indwelling; Humans
PubMed: 32150327
DOI: 10.1002/iub.2266 -
British Journal of Community Nursing Mar 2015A biofilm can be described as a microbial colony encased in a polysaccharide matrix which can become attached to a wound surface. This can affect the healing potential...
A biofilm can be described as a microbial colony encased in a polysaccharide matrix which can become attached to a wound surface. This can affect the healing potential of chronic wounds due to the production of destructive enzymes and toxins which can promote a chronic inflammatory state within the wound. Biofilms can be polymicrobial and can result in delayed wound healing and chronic wound infection resistant to antibiotics, leading to prolonged hospitalisation for some patients. There appears to be a correlation between biofilms and non-healing in chronic wounds. It is suggested that biofilms are a major player in the chronicity of wounds. They are a complex concept to diagnose and management needs to be multifactorial.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bandages; Biofilms; Debridement; Humans; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Wound Healing; Wound Infection; Wounds and Injuries
PubMed: 25757387
DOI: 10.12968/bjcn.2015.20.Sup3.S6 -
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Mar 2018In offshore production facilities, large amounts of deaerated seawater are continuously injected to maintain pressure in oil reservoirs and equivalent volumes of fluids,... (Review)
Review
In offshore production facilities, large amounts of deaerated seawater are continuously injected to maintain pressure in oil reservoirs and equivalent volumes of fluids, composed of an oil/gas, and water mixture are produced. This process, brewing billions of liters of biphasic fluids particularly rich in microorganisms, goes through complex steel pipeline networks that are particularly prone to biofilm formation. Consequently, offshore facilities are frequently victims of severe microbiologically influenced corrosion. Understanding of microbiologically influenced corrosion is constantly growing. In the laboratory, the inventory of potentially corrosive microorganisms is increasing and microbial biochemical and bioelectrical processes are now recognized to be involved in corrosion. However, understanding of corrosive multispecies biofilms and the complex metabolic processes associated with corrosion remains a considerable challenge as simple laboratory biofilms comprising pure or defined mixed cultures poorly represent the complexity of in situ biofilms. Complementary, antagonistic, and parallel microbial pathways occur within the complex microbial and inorganic matrix of the biofilms which can lead to high corrosion rates. This mini-review explores models of microbiologically influenced corrosion and places them in the context of the multispecies biofilms observed in situ. Consequences of mitigation strategies on biofilm corrosiveness and dispersal are also discussed.
Topics: Archaea; Bacteria; Biofilms; Corrosion; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Oxidation-Reduction; Steel
PubMed: 29423635
DOI: 10.1007/s00253-018-8808-9 -
Advances in Experimental Medicine and... 2016Understanding and manipulating bacterial biofilms is crucial in medicine, ecology and agriculture and has potential applications in bioproduction, bioremediation and... (Review)
Review
Understanding and manipulating bacterial biofilms is crucial in medicine, ecology and agriculture and has potential applications in bioproduction, bioremediation and bioenergy. Biofilms often resist standard therapies and the need to develop new means of intervention provides an opportunity to fundamentally rethink our strategies. Conventional approaches to working with biological systems are, for the most part, "brute force", attempting to effect control in an input and effort intensive manner and are often insufficient when dealing with the inherent non-linearity and complexity of living systems. Biological systems, by their very nature, are dynamic, adaptive and resilient and require management tools that interact with dynamic processes rather than inert artefacts. I present an overview of a novel engineering philosophy which aims to exploit rather than fight those properties, and hence provide a more efficient and robust alternative. Based on a combination of evolutionary theory and whole-systems design, its essence is what I will call systems aikido; the basic principle of aikido being to interact with the momentum of an attacker and redirect it with minimal energy expenditure, using the opponent's energy rather than one's own. In more conventional terms, this translates to a philosophy of equilibrium engineering, manipulating systems' own self-organisation and evolution so that the evolutionarily or dynamically stable state corresponds to a function which we require. I illustrate these ideas with a description of a proposed manipulation of environmental conditions to alter the stability of co-operation in the context of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm infection of the cystic fibrosis lung.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteria; Bacterial Infections; Bacterial Load; Bacteriological Techniques; Biofilms; Biological Evolution; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Models, Biological; Quorum Sensing; Systems Biology
PubMed: 27193553
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-32189-9_21 -
Food Research International (Ottawa,... Sep 2022Foodborne diseases caused by ingesting pathogen-contaminated foods have become a significant global challenge afflicting public health. A report from the National... (Review)
Review
Foodborne diseases caused by ingesting pathogen-contaminated foods have become a significant global challenge afflicting public health. A report from the National Institute of Health found that around 80% of microbial infections were related to the generation of microbial biofilms on food-contact surfaces. Therefore, developing a universally applicable food-contact surface with an effective antibiofilm function is urgently needed. However, many antibiofilm strategies are designed for marine and medical industries, which are not fully applicable to the food area. Therefore, in this review, a comprehensive overview of the reported antibiofilm strategies originally designed for various applications is presented. According to their working mechanisms, these antibiofilm strategies were divided into "attack", "defense", and a combination of both. In addition, definitions, antibiofilm mechanisms, features, inherent limitations, and suitable application scenarios of typical antibiofilm strategies were systematically summarized, respectively, which could provide some underlying principles and perspectives to design food-contact surfaces with desirable antibiofilm functions in the future.
Topics: Biofilms; Food Safety
PubMed: 35940753
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.111543 -
FEMS Microbiology Letters Nov 2020The acquisition of a biofilm lifestyle is common in nature for microorganisms. It increases their biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and their capability to provide... (Review)
Review
The acquisition of a biofilm lifestyle is common in nature for microorganisms. It increases their biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and their capability to provide ecosystem services. Although diminutive communities, soil beneficial biofilms are essential for nutrient cycling, soil stabilization and direct or indirect promotion of plant development. Some biofilms represent valid biotechnological tools to deal with problems related to soil degradation, which threat food quality and the maintenance of ecosystem functions. Three genres of biofilms: rhizobacterial biofilms, fungal-bacterial biofilms and biocrusts are reviewed, and their beneficial effects on the environment outlined. Their induction by microbial inoculation represents a potential eco-friendly and sustainable approach to restore lost ecosystem functions and counteract the effects of soil erosion. Yet, some existing knowledge and methodological gaps, that will be discussed here, still hamper the optimization of this technology, and its application at its full potential.
Topics: Agriculture; Biofilms; Ecosystem; Environmental Restoration and Remediation; Soil Microbiology
PubMed: 33175104
DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnaa184 -
Environmental Microbiology Jan 2020The importance of microbial biofilms has been well-recognized for several decades, and focus is now shifting towards investigating multispecies biofilm communities... (Review)
Review
The importance of microbial biofilms has been well-recognized for several decades, and focus is now shifting towards investigating multispecies biofilm communities rather than mono- or dual-species biofilms. Therefore, the demand for techniques that provide a sufficient amount of information at adequate resolution is increasing. One major challenge for multispecies studies is that diversity and spatial organization often lead to a high degree of spatial and chemical heterogeneity. Many current approaches do not account for such heterogeneity and therefore only provide average information (-omics techniques in particular), which could obscure important information about the community. Here, we bring attention to the issues of heterogeneity when analysing synthetic multi-species biofilms, in vitro, and the importance of multi-scale approaches. We provide an overview of current and newer approaches that can be applied to biofilm communities, in order to elucidate interactions at the appropriate scale.
Topics: Biofilms; Environmental Microbiology; Microbial Interactions
PubMed: 31637837
DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14834