Volume 70, Issue 3, April 2014

The words ‘biofilms’ and biofilm infections has only been used in medicine for 30 years, but the phenomenon was detected already by Leeuwenhoek and Pasteur and by environmental microbiologists in the 1920s and 30s.

Infections associated with microorganisms in biofilms persist in part due to the material properties and mechanical tenacity of the biofilm.

In this review, we describe the molecular mechanisms that are involved in the interaction between different species in a biofilm and some advanced methods to investigate this.

New approaches that target each important phases of biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus have been developed, and with clinical validation, these approaches will eventually lead to anti-biofilm therapies that could replace and complement current antibiotic treatment.

The authors review how toxin/antitoxin systems are involved in regulation of bacterial metabolic activity and how they control the lifestyle of bacteria in relationship to infectious diseases.

MIABiE presents guidelines about the data to be recorded and published in order for the procedure and results of the biofilm experiments to be easily and unequivocally interpreted and reproduced.

Recent literature reports antimicrobial peptides as alternative to conventional drugs against biofilm-related infections. Development of biofilm-active molecules may benefit from computational approaches including AMPs design methods and biofilm modeling.

Bacteria interfering with quorum sensing of other bacteria influence biofilm formation and virulence and may be a source of novel anti-infectious agents.

Polymicrobial biofilms promote bacterial resistance to antibiotics and host immune clearance.

Candida and Hartmannella growing in mixed biofilms would be less susceptible than single-species biofilms and than mixed planktonic cultivations to chemical treatments used for disinfection of dental unit waterlines.

This is the first study to explore the effect of thiophenone on Escherichia coli biofilm formation and virulence factors.

Iron supplementation increases the ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to resist certain antibiotics.

Staphylococcus epidermidis strains secrete a mixture of proteases, and these proteases have an effect on biofilms formed by the nosocomial pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus.

A multiresistance plasmid could easily be transferred in dual-species biofilms, which represents models for the food industry.

Effect of prophylactic and late initiated treatment of infected tissue filler gels in mice.

An investigation of host immune response to tuberculosis static culture proteins examining membrane proteins that stimulate an antibody response in guinea pigs infected with tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis expresses in vitro drug tolerance by forming attached microbial communities.

A class of small molecular weight compounds known to inhibit bacterial biofilms was shown to reverse the in vitro expression of antimicrobial resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Correlation between Aspergillus fumigatus biofilm formation and increased gliotoxin production makes biofilm-related infections particularly difficult to settle and suggests the use of gliotoxin as a diagnostic marker for these infections.

New soldier: Presence of E. coli Nissle strain dramatically represses C. perfringens growth, toxins production, biofilm formation, as well as the release of inflammatory cytokines.

The synthesized polyurethane exhibits an intrinsic ability to counteract biofilm formation without any specific surface functionalization or impregnation with antimicrobial agents.

Evaluation of clinical Porphyromonas gingivalis isolates suggests that biofilm formation and DPPIV activity contribute to the pathogenic potential of P. gingivalis.

Although gene expression suggested the importance of eDNA in early biofilm formation of Staphylococcus aureus UAMS-1, the lack of dispersal with DNase shows it is not necessarily essential for stability.

We have performed high-content screenings to identify inhibitors of Candida albicans biofilm formation and filamentation, two complex biological processes that are also intimately linked to the pathogenesis of candidiasis.

This study investigated for the first time the interest of crude extracts of cranberry and cranberry juice fractions to prevent biofilms of different species of Candida spp.

Our study shows that reactive oxygen species are formed during treatment with ciprofloxacin of biofilm-growing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and this contributes to the killing of part of the biofilm.

Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms survival in human blood is linked with the metabolism of essential molecules as well as iron acquisition rather than expression of aggressive virulence factors.