Physicochemical parameters influencing coaggregation between the freshwater bacteria Sphingomonas natatoria 2.1 and Micrococcus luteus 2.13

The aim of this study was to explore the physicochemical parameters that influence coaggregation between the freshwater bacteria Sphingomonas natatoria 2.1 and Micrococcus luteus 2.13. Using visual coaggregation assays, the effect of different buffers, solutions of differing ionic strength, pH, temperature, and viscosity on the degree of coaggregation was assessed. Coaggregation occurred maximally in distilled water but was inhibited when coaggregates were suspended in a commonly-used oral bacterial coaggregation buffer, saline solutions, and Tris-Cl buffers. Coaggregation was weakly expressed in standard laboratory buffers. The ionic strength of inorganic salt solutions required to inhibit coaggregation depended upon the inorganic salt being tested. Coaggregation occurred at a pH of 3–10, between 5 and 80°C and was inhibited in solutions with a viscosity of 22.5 centipoises at 20°C. Inhibition of coaggregation with NaCl impaired biofilm development. When developing buffers to test for coaggregation, the natural liquid environment should be considered. Coaggregation between S. natatoria 2.1 and M. luteus 2.13 is only affected by physicochemical conditions beyond those typically found in natural freshwater ecosystems. Such a robust ability to coaggregate may enhance the ability of S. natatoria 2.1 and M. luteus 2.13 to develop a niche in freshwater biofilms.     

Mini-review: Microbial coaggregation: ubiquity and implications for biofilm development

Coaggregation is the specific recognition and adherence of genetically distinct microorganisms. Because most biofilms are polymicrobial communities, there is potential for coaggregation to play an integral role in spatiotemporal biofilm development and the moderation of biofilm community composition. However, understanding of the mechanisms contributing to coaggregation and the relevance of coaggregation to biofilm ecology is at a very early stage. The purpose of this review is to highlight recent advances in the understanding of microbial coaggregation within different environments and to describe the possible ecological ramifications of such interactions. Bacteria that coaggregate with many partner species within different environments will be highlighted, including oral streptococci and oral bridging organisms such as fusobacteria, as well as the freshwater sphingomonads and acinetobacters. Irrespective of environment, it is proposed that coaggregation is essential for the orchestrated development of multi-species biofilms.     

Interactions between salivary Bifidobacterium adolescentis and other oral bacteria: in vitro coaggregation and coadhesion assays

Coaggregation assays were performed to investigate interactions between oral Bifidobacterium adolescentis and other oral bacterial species. Bifidobacterium adolescentis OLB6410 isolated from the saliva of healthy humans did not coaggregate with Actinomyces naeslundii JCM8350, Streptococcus mitis OLS3293, Streptococcus sanguinis JCM5708, Veillonella parvula ATCC17745 or Porphyromonas gingivalis OB7124, but it did coaggregate with Fusobacterium nucleatum JCM8532. Subsequent examination of biofilm formation on saliva-coated hydroxyapatite discs using FISH revealed that B. adolescentis OLB6410 could not directly adhere to the coated discs. It did, however, adhere to biofilms of A. naeslundii, V. parvula, and F. nucleatum, although it did not coaggregate with A. naeslundii nor with V. parvula. These results suggest that the adhesion of B. adolescentis to tooth surfaces is mediated by other oral bacteria. Heat- or proteinase K-treated F. nucleatum could not coaggregate with B. adolescentis. Similarly, the coaggregation and coadhesion of proteinase K-treated B. adolescentis were strongly inhibited. It is therefore probable that proteinaceous factors on the cellular surface of B. adolescentis and F. nucleatum are involved in their interaction. The data presented in this study add to our understanding of bifidobacterial colonization in the human oral cavity.     

Phylogenetic relationships and coaggregation ability of freshwater biofilm bacteria

Nineteen numerically dominant heterotrophic bacteria from a freshwater biofilm were identified by 16S ribosomal DNA gene sequencing, and their coaggregation partnerships were determined. Phylogenetic trees showed that both distantly related and closely related strains coaggregated at intergeneric, intrageneric, and intraspecies levels. One strain, Blastomonas natatoria 2.1, coaggregated with all 18 other strains and may function as a bridging organism in biofilm development.     

Nutrient dynamics and successional changes in a lentic freshwater biofilm

SUMMARY 1. Colonisation, species composition, succession of microalgae and nutrient dynamics in biofilms grown under light and dark conditions were examined during the initial phases of biofilm development in a lentic freshwater environment.
2. Biofilms were developed on inert (perspex) panels under natural illuminated and experimental dark conditions and the panels were retrieved for analysis after different incubation periods. Analysed parameters included biofilm thickness, algal density, biomass, chlorophyll a , species composition, total bacterial density and nutrients such as nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and silicate.
3. Biofilm thickness, algal density, biomass, chlorophyll a and species richness were significantly higher in light-grown biofilms, compared with dark-grown biofilms. The light-grown biofilms showed a three-phased succession pattern, with an initial domination of Chlorophyceae followed by diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) and finally by cyanobacteria. Dark-grown biofilms were mostly dominated by diatoms.
4. Nutrients were invariably more concentrated in biofilms than in ambient water. Nutrient concentrations were generally higher in dark-grown biofilms except in the case of phosphate, which was more concentrated in light-grown biofilms. Significant correlations between nutrients and biofilm parameters were observed only in light-grown biofilms.
5. The N : P ratio in the biofilm matrix decreased sharply in the initial 4 days of biofilm growth; ensuing N-limitation status seemed to influence biofilm community structure. The N : P ratios showed significant positive correlations with the chlorophycean fraction in both light and dark-grown biofilms, and low N : P ratio in the older biofilms favoured cyanobacteria. Our data indicate that nutrient chemistry of biofilm matrix shapes community structure in microalgal biofilms.     

Coaggregation between freshwater bacteria within biofilm and planktonic communities

The coaggregation ability of bacteria isolated from a freshwater biofilm was compared to those derived from the coexisting planktonic population. Twenty-nine morphologically distinct bacterial strains were isolated from a 6-month-old biofilm, established in a glass tank under high-shear conditions, and 15 distinct strains were isolated from the associated re-circulating water. All 44 strains were identified to genus or species level by 16S rDNA sequencing. The 29 biofilm strains belonged to 14 genera and 23.4% of all the possible pair-wise combinations coaggregated. The 15 planktonic strains belonged to seven genera and only 5.8% of all the possible pair-wise combinations coaggregated. Therefore, compared to the planktonic population, a greater proportion of the biofilm strains coaggregated. It is proposed that coaggregation influences biofilm formation and species diversity in freshwater under high shear.     

鞭毛介导的运动性与细菌生物膜的相互关系

摘要:由于运动缺陷型细菌形成生物膜的能力会下降,长期以来细菌的运动性都被认为与生物膜的形成呈正相关,但这一理论现在证明还有待商榷,而且运动性不是影响膜形成的绝对因素。本文详细介绍了细菌的生物膜和运动性,并重新定义了两者的相互关系。     

细菌诱导对昆虫细胞系NIH-SaPe-4生长与抗菌蛋白活性的影响

离体昆虫细胞系在昆虫免疫、抗菌肽及蛋白研究和药物开发方面具有较好的应用前景。该文对双翅目麻蝇科麻蝇成虫卵巢胚细胞系NIH-SaPe-4在藤黄微球菌诱导和非诱导条件下,细胞密度和活力的变化、诱导对细胞生长的影响、抗菌活性及其活性随时间的变化关系等进行了研究,并对所得抗菌蛋白进行了初步分离纯化和稳定性评估。结果表明,诱导使得细胞密度增长减缓,活力变弱。诱导和非诱导组细胞均可产生对3种革兰氏阳性菌具有抑菌活性的抗菌蛋白,其中对藤黄微球菌的抑菌活性最明显;诱导组细胞抗菌蛋白活性出现时间、稳定期抑菌活性均大于非诱导组,诱导菌消失一段时间后抗菌活性恢复到同等水平。抗菌蛋白具有酸碱稳定性和热稳定性。2组抗菌蛋白粗提液经凝胶、反相分离纯化后均得到一种60 kDa左右的抗菌蛋白,诱导组电泳后条带亮度大于非诱导组。该研究为昆虫细胞抗菌蛋白性质、分离纯化等研究奠定了科学基础。     

Interactions between bacterial membranes and peptidolipids: Lysis of Micrococcus luteus protoplasts by derivatives of peptidolipidic antibiotics from Bacillus subtilis

The lysis of protoplasts of Micrococcus luteus has been tested with various derivatives of three peptidolipidic antibiotics: iturin A, mycosubtilin and bacillomycin L. The lytic activity is dependent to the nature of the substituting group and to the position of the substituted aminoacid residue. The acetylation of OH groups leads to a decrease of the lytic activity of the natural antibiotics. The methylation of aspartyl residues of bacillomycin L gives a strong lytic activity while natural bacillomycin L has no lytic activity. The methylation of the tyrosyl residue enhances the lytic activities of iturin A and of bacillomycin L-dimethyl ester and reduces that of mycosubtilin.Correlations between the structures of derivatives and their lytic action on M. luteus protoplasts are discussed.     

苯胺、苯酚对淡水藻类生长的影响

用生物检验法研究了苯胺、苯酚对蛋白核小球藻、斜生栅藻生长的影响,测定了两种藻类在5 d内对不同浓度苯胺、苯酚的降解或在藻细胞内的富集情况.结果表明,苯胺、苯酚对两种淡水藻类的致毒作用有所不同,对于同一种藻类,苯胺毒性大于苯酚;在同一毒物浓度下,栅藻表现更为敏感.在较低浓度下,两种淡水藻类均能降解或吸收一部分有机毒物,其中对苯酚的降解能力较强.     

藤黄微球菌降解真菌毒素玉米赤霉烯酮的研究

目的研究并优化藤黄微球菌降解真菌毒素玉米赤霉烯酮(ZEN)的因素条件。方法采用HPLC的检测方法对藤黄微球菌降解真菌毒素玉米赤霉烯酮的影响因素(培养基、温度、pH、摇床转速、培养时间和金属离子等)进行优化研究。结果藤黄微球菌在0.05 mol/LMnCl2、初始pH为7.0的LB培养基中,37℃,180 r/min,连续培养120 h,能降解99%的ZEN毒素(初始浓度为2μg/ml)。结论藤黄微球菌降解真菌毒素ZEN的能力与培养基成分、pH和添加的金属离子种类密切相关。     

A study on biological activity measurements and heterotrophic bacteria in a small freshwater lake

A 6-m-deep lake has been sampled to measure the temporal and depth-wise distribution of heterotrophic bacteria and biological activity in the water. Surface, mid-depth and bottom waters were analysed at monthly intervals for a period of one year. The coefficient of heterotrophic activity, alkaline phosphatase activity and biological oxygen demand are used as an index of biological activity. The bacterial community was at maximum during spring, coinciding with high values of biological activity. Highest biological activity was observed in the bottom waters. Dissolved organic carbon showed a significant positive correlation with most of the biological activity parameters. This suggests that biological activity, as measured by the coefficient of heterotrophic activity, was more closely related to the concentration of substrates than to population density of heterotrophic bacteria.     

Observations on biofilm bacteria isolated from aluminium panels immersed in estuarine waters

Microfouling biomass generally increased on aluminium panels immersed in the surface waters of a tropical estuary over a period of 30 d. A hundred bacterial colonies were randomly isolated, purified and morphologically, physiologically and biochemically characterised. There was an obvious difference in colony morphology during the period of immersion. Most of the colonies were motile, catalase and oxidase positive Gram negative rods. Pseudomonas was the most abundant initial colonizer during the first 24 h following immersion, and Flavobacterium and Alkaligenes were common throughout the immersion period. Representatives of the Enterobacteriaceae were present only during the first 7 d after immersion. Vibrio was the most predominant organism and its abundance generally increased over the period of immersion. Alkaligenes exhibited a decreasing trend over the 22 d immersion period followed by an increase in abundance at day 30 after immersion. However, no particular trend was observed for Flavobacteria.

The isolates were screened for their cell surface hydrophobicity using the BATH method. Most of the isolates were hydrophilic. However, as the period of immersion increased there was a relative increase in cell surface hydrophobicity of the isolates.     

Differences in growth between offspring of anadromous and freshwater brown trout Salmo trutta

In this study, individual growth of juvenile offspring of anadromous and freshwater resident brown trout Salmo trutta and crosses between the two from the River Imsa, Norway, was estimated. The juveniles were incubated until hatching at two temperatures (±S.D. ), either 4.4 ± 1.5°C or 7.1 ± 0.6°C. Growth rate was estimated for 22 days in August–September when the fish on average were c. 8 g in wet mass, and the estimates were standardized to 1 g fish dry mass. Offspring of anadromous S. trutta grew better at both 15 and 18°C than offspring of freshwater resident S. trutta or offspring of crosses between the two S. trutta types. This difference appears not to result from a maternal effect because anadromous S. trutta grew better than the hybrids with anadromous mothers. Instead, this appears to be an inherited difference between the anadromous and the freshwater resident fish lending support to the hypothesis that anadromous and freshwater resident S. trutta in this river differ in genetic expression. Egg incubation temperature of S. trutta appeared not to influence the later growth as reported earlier from the studies of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.     

Influence of starvation, surface attachment and biofilm growth on the biocide susceptibility of the biodeteriogenic yeast Aureobasidium pullulans

AIM: To investigate the effect of starvation, surface attachment and growth in a biofilm on the susceptibility of Aureobasidium pullulans to the biocides 2-n-octyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (OIT) and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). METHODS AND RESULTS: Fluorescence loss from a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-transformed strain was used to monitor real-time loss in viability as previously described in situ in 96-well plates. Exponential phase, yeast-like (YL) cells were settled in the bottom of the wells as a low-density monolayer (LDM) and were susceptible to all biocide concentrations (25-100 mug ml(-1)). The exponential phase YL cells were either starved for 48 h in suspension or starved for 48 h as LDMs in the wells. Starvation in both cases led to a small reduction in susceptibility to the biocides. In contrast, 48-h biofilms grown in malt extract broth showed an apparent lack of susceptibility to 25 and 50 mug ml(-1) OIT and to 25-100 mug ml(-1) NaOCl. However, when the OIT concentration was increased to compensate for the higher cell density in the biofilm, the biofilms were found to be equally susceptible to the LDM. CONCLUSIONS: Starvation of A. pullulans YL cells either in suspension or as attached LDM resulted in a decrease in susceptibility to low concentrations of both OIT and NaOCl while the apparent reduced susceptibility of mature biofilms was due to the increase in biofilm cell density rather than true biofilm resistance per se. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Monitoring fluorescence loss from the GFP-transformed strain of A. pullulans can be used as a fast and reliable method for monitoring cell death in real time as a response to biocide and antimicrobial challenge.     

Conditioning film and initial biofilm formation on ceramics tiles in the marine environment

The formation of biofilm on surfaces in the marine environment is believed to be an important factor driving colonization and recruitment of some sessile invertebrate communities. The present study follows the process of biofilm buildup on unglazed ceramic tiles deployed into the marine environment in the northern Gulf of Eilat. PCR-DGGE of film eluted from the tile surface indicated the presence of bacteria as early as 2 h after deployment. The makeup of the biofilm bacterial community was dynamic. Bacterial presence was apparent microscopically 6 h after deployment, though a developed biofilm was not observed until 24 h following deployment. Total organic carbon (TOC) data suggest that a conditioning film was built within the first four hours following deployment. During this time period TOC reached the highest level possibly due to adhesion of organics (e.g., sugars, proteins and humic substances) from the water column. We suggest that the primary adhering bacteria, whilst still in the reversible stage of adhesion, utilize the conditioning film as food causing the decrease in TOC. Understanding the dynamics between these primary bacterial settlers is of importance, since they may play a role on the succession of invertebrate species settlement onto artificial surfaces.     

肺炎克雷伯菌生物膜对小鼠巨噬细胞免疫功能的影响

目的研究肺炎克雷伯菌生物膜(BF)对小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞TLRs mRNA和细胞因子表达的影响,探索机体抗BF感染免疫的特点。方法将雄性昆明种小鼠40只随机分成2组,一组腹腔植入体外形成肺炎克雷伯菌BF的硅胶片,建立留置性医疗装置BF感染模型实验组,另一组植入与实验组同等量的浮游菌作为对照组。实时定量PCR分析2组巨噬细胞TLRs mRNA的表达水平,双抗体夹心ELISA法测定细胞因子的含量。结果实验BF组巨噬细胞TLR2、TLR4 mRNA表达量是对照浮游菌组的0.23和0.24倍;而TLR5、TLR9两组表达差异无显著性。实验BF组刺激前后IL-1、IL-2的差值明显低于对照浮游菌组,而IL-4则相反(P0.01)。结论与浮游菌相比,BF能下调小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞TLR2、TLR4的表达,机体的免疫应答朝着Th2型免疫反应发展,这可能是BF相对浮游菌更容易逃脱机体免疫防御系统、引起慢性感染的机制之一。     

Identification and characterization of chitinolytic bacteria isolated from a freshwater lake

To develop a novel type of biocontrol agent, we focus on bacteria that are characterized by both chitinase activity and biofilm development. Chitinolytic bacteria were isolated from sediments and chitin flakes immersed in the water of a sand dune lake, Sakata, in Niigata, Japan. Thirty-one isolates from more than 5100 isolated strains were examined chitinase activity and biofilm formation. Phylogenetic analysis of these isolates based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that most isolates belonged to the family Aeromonadaceae, followed by Paenibacillaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, and Neisseriaceae. The specific activity of chitinase of four selected strains was higher than that of a reference strain. The molecular size of one chitinase produced by Andreprevotia was greater than that of typical bacterial chitinases. The dialyzed culture supernatant containing chitinases of the four strains suppressed hyphal growth of Trichoderma reesei. These results indicate that these four strains are good candidates for biocontrol agents.