It has been reported that certain period of time bacteria re-adopt a planktonic mode of growth. We want to know the possibility to induce planktonic life in a biofilm phenotype as early as possible.
It would be helpful to know what bacteria you are working with. According to literature, different bacterial species (and even strains) have different biofilm formation properties, or stages as such.
It would also be helpful to know whether you are looking into genetic engineering (certain mutations) or external input (e.g. chemicals ?).
And I would argue (again, depends on the situation) that bacteria re-adopt to a planktonic mode of growth. According to latest observations, biofilm is the favorable mode.
Hi Zulfiqar Ali. One idea is to promote the phase variation with a metabolic shift. Since, in general biofilms are controlled by rpoS or equivalent and quorum sensing systems, I recommend, first, if possible, to gently wash the biofilm to throw away or diminish quorum sensing effectors like homoserin lactones or equivalent and other signaling molecules and immediately add a very rich media with both, glucose and aminoacids and maybe some vitamin like B1. Remember that biofilms is very generic name, and refer to a general phenomena of bacterial aggregation and coordination but there are different types biofilms (with different molecular basis) that depend on the specie, culture conditions or abiotic factors like temperature. If you add in this culture media some DNAase I and some enzyme that helps in the disruption like cellulases, the process can be faster. There are some elements like iron that can help in the process but its depend on the bacterial species. The best you know your system, the best you can a design a good strategy. Other idea can be the disruption of second messengers necessary for maintenance of biofilm integrity. For example, many biofilms systems depends on the concentration of c-di-GMP. What if you introduce a phosphodiesterase that can be expressed only at 42 grades? If your combine some of those factors including strong shaking and rich media, you should have a rapid dispersion. Good luck!!
Also, take a look here: http://agilesci.com/
You may try different enzymes or quorum sensing molecules depending upon the species you are working with, good luck
I agree that the background of the problematic is cryptic. Biofilm dispersion can be achieved in a very simple (mechanical) way. Do you want to discard any biofilm or to promote cycles between planktonic and sessile lifes ? Usually, if the contact with the (a)biotic surface is lost, bacteria turn back to a planctonic phenotype. Please tell us more about your goal.
Hi,
Alexendro gave a good summary of possibilities, on which it may be fair to add that the miraculous "off the shelf" solution doesn’t exist. You also need to consider that a biofilm is a complex bacterial community (not even talking about multi-species aspects). Some enzymes and compounds may have a partial effect on the bulk of the biofilm for some STRAINS, and not for other strains, and the “layer” of biofilm close to the adhesion surface behaves most of the time differently from the bulk. So far most anti-biofilm compounds have been identified on the basis of an effect on the bulk part, so in general you will end-up with a “root-biofilm” that will regrow once the treatment is finished. Many groups still working on this…
Regards, Pascal
Try D-amino acids, or cis-2-decenoic acid. Those small chemicals were extracted from spent cultures and induced biofilm dispersion. They both showed activity in biofilm disruption while not impact on bacterial growth. Some enzymes may also work well, such as DNase I and proteinase.
Refer to these papers:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=20431016
and
http://jb.asm.org/content/191/5/1393.full.pdf
I tried D-tyrosine on nine distant bacterial species and found it inhibited biofilm formation by some species. It has not significant influence on bacterial growth.
Here is one paper about using D-tyrosine to treat biofilm formed by waste water.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037673881100295X
Additionally to D amino acids that work with a variety of different bacteria, we recently reported the polyamine norspermidine as a self produced factor and synthetic derivatives with enhanced activity.
http://grtc.ucsd.edu/curr_lit_fa11/CL26.pdf
and
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23406351
As suggested by others above, the answer depends on the bacterial species you target. One of the most universal dispersal-inducing agents is nitric oxide.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17050922
If you're interested in further applicative studies on the subject please contact me at
Actually i am working on S. aureus biofilm formation and dispersion process. after 72 (3) days the highest biifilm formation was achieved and after that they started biofilm dispersion. 2nd Additionally D amino acids did not showed any noticeably impact however, in combination with protenese K it showed very strong impact against biofilm.
@Dr. Zulfiqar Mirani using proteinase K do you think that there is the possibility of your biofilm being killed?
Okay when it is S. aureus, norspermidine is definitly worth trying. It's commercially available. Proteinase K will very likely destroy more than just the biofilm.
I think, addition of nutrients may prompt them to shift back to the planktonic mode.
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