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Adhesion of Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms to glass, stainless steel and cellulose

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Abstract

Objectives

The adhesion of colloidal probes of stainless steel, glass and cellulose to Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms was examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) to allow comparisons between surfaces to which biofilms might adhere.

Results

Biofilm was grown on a stainless steel substrate and covered most of the surface after 96 h. AFM approach and retraction curves were obtained when the biofilm was immersed in a tryptone/soy medium. On approach, all the colloidal probes experienced a long non-contact phase more than 100 nm in length, possibly due to the steric repulsion by extracellular polymers from the biofilm and hydrophobic effects. Retraction data showed that the adhesion varied from position to position on the biofilm. The mean value of adhesion of glass to the biofilm (48 ± 7 nN) was the greatest, followed by stainless steel (30 ± 7 nN) and cellulose (7.8 ± 0.4 nN).

Conclusion

The method allows understanding of adhesion between the three materials and biofilm, and development of a better strategy to remove the biofilm from these surfaces relevant to different industrial applications.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Malaysia of Education Malaysia (MOE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (R.J130000.7845.4F428) and Unilever R&D for their financial support. The atomic force microscope used in this research was obtained through Birmingham Science City: Innovative Uses for Advanced Materials in the Modern World (West Midlands Centre for Advanced Materials Project 2), with support from Advantage West Midlands (AWM) and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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Correspondence to Z. Zhang.

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Wan Dagang, W.R.Z., Bowen, J., O’Keeffe, J. et al. Adhesion of Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms to glass, stainless steel and cellulose. Biotechnol Lett 38, 787–792 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-016-2047-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-016-2047-x

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