Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 110, Issue 14, Pages 5624-5629Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219662110
Keywords
microbial adhesion; structured surfaces; bacterial appendages; surface texture; surface wetting
Categories
Funding
- Office of Naval Research [N00014-11-1-0641]
- BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard University
- National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- NSF [ECS-0335765]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Biofilms, surface-bound communities of microbes, are economically and medically important due to their pathogenic and obstructive properties. Among the numerous strategies to prevent bacterial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation, surface topography was recently proposed as a highly nonspecific method that does not rely on small-molecule antibacterial compounds, which promote resistance. Here, we provide a detailed investigation of how the introduction of submicrometer crevices to a surface affects attachment of Escherichia coli. These crevices reduce substrate surface area available to the cell body but increase overall surface area. We have found that, during the first 2 h, adhesion to topographic surfaces is significantly reduced compared with flat controls, but this behavior abruptly reverses to significantly increased adhesion at longer exposures. We show that this reversal coincides with bacterially induced wetting transitions and that flagellar filaments aid in adhesion to these wetted topographic surfaces. We demonstrate that flagella are able to reach into crevices, access additional surface area, and produce a dense, fibrous network. Mutants lacking flagella show comparatively reduced adhesion. By varying substrate crevice sizes, we determine the conditions under which having flagella is most advantageous for adhesion. These findings strongly indicate that, in addition to their role in swimming motility, flagella are involved in attachment and can furthermore act as structural elements, enabling bacteria to overcome unfavorable surface topographies. This work contributes insights for the future design of antifouling surfaces and for improved understanding of bacterial behavior in native, structured environments.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available