Adhesive properties of five mesophilic, cellulolytic Clostridia isolated from the same biotope

Abstract Adhesion to cellulose of five strains of mesophilic, cellulolytic clostridia , isolated from a municipal waste digestor, was found to be a reversible phenomenon. The type of attachment for the five strains conformed to a multilayer adhesion. In a first step, attachment to the adhesion site occurred by cell-cellulose interaction. In a second step, cell-cell interactions were identified. The five strains adhered slightly better to magazine paper and Whatman No. 1 filter paper than to newspaper and cardboard. Two strains, C401 and A22, were studied in more detail. The two strains, harvested in stationary phase, presented a heterogeneous population which could be separated: (i) as 'unbound' cells, corresponding to cells remaining in suspension from cellulose-grown cultures; and (ii) as 'bound' cells, coming from two successive washes with 50 mM Tris HCl, pH 7.0, which released 'bound' cells. In adhesion measurements, eluted cells ('bound' cells) adhered better to the cellulose than the 'unbound' cells. Strain C401 adhered better than strain A22 to the cellulose: 1.9-fold for the 'bound' cells and 3.6-fold for the 'unbound' cells. Adhesion of the two isolates was enhanced by the presence of calcium (10 mM). Cellobiose and glucose had no effect on strain A22 adhesion. Conversely, adhesion of strain C401 to cellulose was enhanced by cellobiose at a concentration of 1.5 g I⁻¹, but 85% inhibited by a concentration of 5.0 g I⁻¹. The two strains adhered to the same site on Whatman filter paper and unspecific interactions between the two strains occur.