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Microorganisms
Special Issues
Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0
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Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Biofilm".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2023) | Viewed by 11312

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
Interests: structure and function of microbial communities in complex environments; phenotypic resistance of biofilms to antibiotics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yun Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Interests: biofilm; biocontrol; pathogencity; microbial interaction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the continuation of our previous special issue "Host–Biofilm Interactions".

Background: In nature, bacteria form complex, differentiated multicellular communities, known as biofilms. The coordinated actions of many cells, communicating and dividing labor, improve the ability of the community to attach to hosts and protect them from environmental assaults. Bacterial biofilms are of extreme clinical importance, as they are inherently associated with many persistent and chronic bacterial infections. For example, the commensal/aquatic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa can cause devastating chronic biofilm infections in compromised hosts, cystic fibrosis patients, and those with burn wounds or medical devices.

In addition to being a leading cause for microbial infections, biofilms can also provide beneficial effects to other organisms, e.g., biocontrol agents such as B. subtilis form biofilms on the surface of plant roots, thereby preventing the growth of bacterial and fungal pathogens. Similarly, our beneficial microbiota is surface-associated and interacts continuously with the host; it is structured like a biofilm, although perhaps not in a classical sense. Thus, developing an experimental framework for the study of biofilm–host interactions will provide medical, nutritional, technological, and agricultural advancements.

Overall Aim: This Special Issue aims to explore fundamental aspects of host–biofilm interactions, including but not limited to:

  • Defining and quantifying host-associated biofilms
  • Stages of colonization
  • Infectious biofilms
  • Symbiotic biofilm–host interactions
  • Biological and bioinformatics methods for studying host-associated biofilm communities
  • Adhesins and toxins
  • 3D organization of host-associated communities
  • Biofilm–host communication
  • Co-feeding and metabolic networks in host-associated biofilm communities

Dr. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal
Prof. Dr. Yun Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 4343 KiB  
Article
Identification of Flo11-like Adhesin in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and the Mechanism of Small-Molecule Compounds Mediating Biofilm Formation in Yeasts
by Yu-Gang Zhang, Tong Zhang and Lan Lin
Microorganisms 2024, 12(2), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12020358 - 9 Feb 2024
Viewed by 602
Abstract
Fungal infection is initiated by the adhesion of pathogens to biotic and abiotic surfaces, with various manifestations including biofilm formation and invasive growth, etc. A previous report, though devoid of functional data, speculated that the Schizosaccharomyces pombe glycoprotein SPBPJ4664.02 could be the homology [...] Read more.
Fungal infection is initiated by the adhesion of pathogens to biotic and abiotic surfaces, with various manifestations including biofilm formation and invasive growth, etc. A previous report, though devoid of functional data, speculated that the Schizosaccharomyces pombe glycoprotein SPBPJ4664.02 could be the homology of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Flo11. Here, our studies with S. pombe substantiated the previously proposed speculation by (1) the deletion of SPBPJ4664.02 attenuated biofilm formation and invasive growth in S. pombe; (2) the S. pombe’s lack of SPBPJ4664.02 could be complemented by expressing S. cerevisiae flo11. Furthermore, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and dodecanol were examined in S. pombe for their respective effects on biofilm formation. IAA and dodecanol at high concentrations could inhibit biofilm formation, whereas opposing effects were observed with low concentrations of these molecules. Mechanism studies with the SPBPJ4664.02Δ and SPBPJ4664.02Δ/flo11OE versus the wild type have demonstrated that IAA or dodecanol might exert regulatory effects downstream of SPBPJ4664.02 in the signaling pathway for biofilm formation. Moreover, our research extrapolated to Candida albicans has pinpointed that IAA inhibited biofilm formation at high concentrations, consistent with the transcriptional downregulation of the biofilm-related genes. Dodecanol suppressed C. albicans biofilm formation at all the concentrations tested, in accord with the downregulation of biofilm-related transcripts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0)
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13 pages, 2312 KiB  
Article
Revealing the Bacterial Quorum-Sensing Effect on the Biofilm Formation of Diatom Cylindrotheca sp. Using Multimodal Imaging
by Cuiyun Yang, Guojuan Song, Jiyoung Son, Logan Howard and Xiao-Ying Yu
Microorganisms 2023, 11(7), 1841; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11071841 - 20 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1692
Abstract
Diatoms contribute to carbon fixation in the oceans by photosynthesis and always form biofouling organized by extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the marine environment. Bacteria-produced quorum-sensing signal molecules N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) were found to play an important role in the development of [...] Read more.
Diatoms contribute to carbon fixation in the oceans by photosynthesis and always form biofouling organized by extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the marine environment. Bacteria-produced quorum-sensing signal molecules N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) were found to play an important role in the development of Cylindrotheca sp. in previous studies, but the EPS composition change was unclear. This study used the technology of alcian blue staining and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to directly observe the biofilm formation process. The results showed that AHLs promote the growth rates of diatoms and the EPS secretion of biofilm components. AHLs facilitated the diatom-biofilm formation by a forming process dependent on the length of carbon chains. AHLs increased the biofilm thickness and the fluorescence intensity and then altered the three-dimensional (3D) structures of the diatom-biofilm. In addition, the enhanced EPS content in the diatom-biofilm testified that AHLs aided biofilm formation. This study provides a collection of new experimental evidence of the interaction between bacteria and microalgae in fouling biofilms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0)
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11 pages, 5330 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of an Artificial Mouth for Dental Caries Development
by Bennett T. Amaechi, Parveez Ahamed Abdul Azees, Rayane Farah, Fatemeh Movaghari Pour, Andrew M. Dillow and Chun-Yen Lin
Microorganisms 2023, 11(3), 628; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11030628 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1794
Abstract
This study validated a microbial caries model (artificial mouth) for dental caries development to determine the optimal time to create early caries suitable for evaluation of the efficacy of caries therapeutic agents. In all, 40 human enamel blocks were placed in an artificial [...] Read more.
This study validated a microbial caries model (artificial mouth) for dental caries development to determine the optimal time to create early caries suitable for evaluation of the efficacy of caries therapeutic agents. In all, 40 human enamel blocks were placed in an artificial mouth at 37 °C and 5% CO2 and were exposed to brain heart infusion broth inoculated with S. mutans in continuous circulation (0.3 mL/min). The culture medium was replaced three times daily. Samples were exposed to 10% sucrose for 3 min, 3 times daily to promote biofilm growth. Five samples were harvested from the chamber after 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. At the end of experiment, samples were assessed visually by ICDAS criteria, while lesion depth (LD) and mineral loss (ML) were measured using polarizing light microscopy and transverse microradiography. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation, ANOVA, and Tukey comparison test (p < 0.05). Results showed significant and strong positive correlation (p < 0.01) between all variables and biofilm growth time. LD and ML profiles of 7-day lesions seem to be the most suitable for remineralization studies. In conclusion, using the evaluated artificial mouth, early-stage caries suitable for products’ evaluation studies was produced within 7 days of exposure to microbial biofilm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0)
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13 pages, 2610 KiB  
Article
Impact of Environmental Stresses on the Antibacterial Activity of Graphene Oxide (GO) Nanoparticles against P. putida Biofilms
by Hussam Fallatah, Tim Overton, Hanene Ali-Boucetta and Konstantinos Gkatzionis
Microorganisms 2023, 11(3), 609; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11030609 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1366
Abstract
As the production of graphene-based nanomaterials such as GO is increasing, it is expected that a large amount of GO waste will be generated. The environment (i.e., soil and aquatic systems) will be amongst the final repositories of these wastes which means important [...] Read more.
As the production of graphene-based nanomaterials such as GO is increasing, it is expected that a large amount of GO waste will be generated. The environment (i.e., soil and aquatic systems) will be amongst the final repositories of these wastes which means important natural microbial communities in such environments will be at risk of GO exposure. However, little is known about how these communities respond to environmental stresses in synergy with the presence of GO. In this study, the effect of three different stress conditions: temperature (5, 25 and 40 °C); pH (5 to 9) and osmotic stress (51, 219 and 320 mM NaCl) in addition to GO treatment was investigated on the viability and physiology of biofilms and planktonic cells of soil bacterium P. putida. It was found that planktonic cells were more resistant to GO alone compared to biofilms. However, the cells were sensitive to GO when exposed to pH or osmotic stresses. Temperature was not found to influence the survival of biofilm with or without exposure to GO. However, low pH caused a reduction in colony-forming units (CFU) at pHs 5 and 6 for the pre-treated samples, while biofilms at pH 7–9 did not show any decrease. Interestingly, the post-treatment of planktonic cells or biofilms with GO showed a significant reduction in CFU at all pH ranges. The effect of higher osmotic stress in combination with GO resulted in a significant reduction in biofilms. These results show that the effect of stresses naturally occurring in the environment can be affected and changed when in combination with GO and can potentially affect the balance of natural biofilms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0)
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15 pages, 8364 KiB  
Article
Pepsin and Trypsin Treatment Combined with Carvacrol: An Efficient Strategy to Fight Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis Biofilms
by Samah Mechmechani, Adem Gharsallaoui, Layal Karam, Khaled EL Omari, Alexandre Fadel, Monzer Hamze and Nour-Eddine Chihib
Microorganisms 2023, 11(1), 143; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11010143 - 6 Jan 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2600
Abstract
Biofilms consist of microbial communities enclosed in a self-produced extracellular matrix which is mainly responsible of biofilm virulence. Targeting this matrix could be an effective strategy to control biofilms. In this work, we examined the efficacy of two proteolytic enzymes, pepsin and trypsin, [...] Read more.
Biofilms consist of microbial communities enclosed in a self-produced extracellular matrix which is mainly responsible of biofilm virulence. Targeting this matrix could be an effective strategy to control biofilms. In this work, we examined the efficacy of two proteolytic enzymes, pepsin and trypsin, to degrade P. aeruginosa and E. faecalis biofilms and their synergistic effect when combined with carvacrol. The minimum dispersive concentrations (MDCs) and the contact times of enzymes, as well as the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and contact times of carvacrol, were determined against biofilms grown on polystyrene surfaces. For biofilms grown on stainless steel surfaces, the combined pepsin or trypsin with carvacrol treatment showed more significant reduction of both biofilms compared with carvacrol treatment alone. This reduction was more substantial after sequential treatment of both enzymes, followed by carvacrol with the greatest reduction of 4.7 log CFU mL−1 (p < 0.05) for P. aeruginosa biofilm and 3.3 log CFU mL−1 (p < 0.05) for E. faecalis biofilm. Such improved efficiency was also obvious in the epifluorescence microscopy analysis. These findings demonstrate that the combined effect of the protease-dispersing activity and the carvacrol antimicrobial activity could be a prospective approach for controlling P. aeruginosa and E. faecalis biofilms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0)
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Review

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16 pages, 1492 KiB  
Review
New Perspectives on BolA: A Still Mysterious Protein Connecting Morphogenesis, Biofilm Production, Virulence, Iron Metabolism, and Stress Survival
by Ana Alves da Silva, Lisete Galego and Cecília Maria Arraiano
Microorganisms 2023, 11(3), 632; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11030632 - 1 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2118
Abstract
The BolA-like protein family is widespread among prokaryotes and eukaryotes. BolA was originally described in E. coli as a gene induced in the stationary phase and in stress conditions. The BolA overexpression makes cells spherical. It was characterized as a transcription factor modulating [...] Read more.
The BolA-like protein family is widespread among prokaryotes and eukaryotes. BolA was originally described in E. coli as a gene induced in the stationary phase and in stress conditions. The BolA overexpression makes cells spherical. It was characterized as a transcription factor modulating cellular processes such as cell permeability, biofilm production, motility, and flagella assembly. BolA is important in the switch between motile and sedentary lifestyles having connections with the signaling molecule c-di-GMP. BolA was considered a virulence factor in pathogens such as Salmonella Typhimurium and Klebsiella pneumoniae and it promotes bacterial survival when facing stresses due to host defenses. In E. coli, the BolA homologue IbaG is associated with resistance to acidic stress, and in Vibrio cholerae, IbaG is important for animal cell colonization. Recently, it was demonstrated that BolA is phosphorylated and this modification is important for the stability/turnover of BolA and its activity as a transcription factor. The results indicate that there is a physical interaction between BolA-like proteins and the CGFS-type Grx proteins during the biogenesis of Fe-S clusters, iron trafficking and storage. We also review recent progress regarding the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which BolA/Grx protein complexes are involved in the regulation of iron homeostasis in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host–Biofilm Interactions 2.0)
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