Team:Glasgow/Biofilm/P. aeruginosa

From 2011.igem.org

Revision as of 22:16, 21 September 2011 by Ellin (Talk | contribs)

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the standard organism for the investigation of biofilms, as it is very adept at forming them. This ability is mainly due to the production of exopolysaccharides (EPS), most notably the protein alginate, that is produced by the mucoid strains of P. aeruginosa and leads to the production of notably thicker and more stable biofilms,though it is not essential for biofilm formation

The strain that was chosen for this project is the wild type PA01 strain, that forms stable smooth, and more homogenous biofilms.

Biofilm architecture in muciod and non-mucoid P.aeruginosa strains. a) Typical biofilm architecture of the mucoid (alginate over-expressing) SG81 strain b)The smoother biofilm architecture typical of non-mucoid strains such as the wild type PA01 that was used in this project


P.aeruginosa biofilm is eDNA (extracellular DNA), which functions as an intercellular connector by forming a grid-like structure. It has been shown that these biofilms can be disrupted by DNase. (Flemming & Wingende, 2010)


It has long been postulated that P.aeruginosa has significant resistance to a wide range of antibiotics because of it's ability to form sturdy, resistant biofilms. Drenkard & Ausube showed that biofilm formation is strongly correlated to antibiotic resistance, allowing P.aeruginosa to thrive in almost any environment. Go back to Biofilms

Refenrences

Flemming, H. & Wingende J., 2010. The Biofilm Matrix. Nature Reviews Microbiology 8, 623-633

Drenkard,E. & Frederick M. Ausube

Retrieved from "http://2011.igem.org/Team:Glasgow/Biofilm/P._aeruginosa"