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Modulation of Escherichia coli biofilm growth by cell-free spent cultures from lactobacilli

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Central European Journal of Biology

Abstract

E. coli biofilms cause serious problems in medical practice by contaminating surfaces and indwelling catheters. Due to the rapid development of antibiotic resistance, alternative approaches to biofilm suppression are needed. This study addresses whether products released by antagonistic bacteria — Lactobacillus isolates from vaginal and dairy-product samples could be useful for controlling E. coli biofilms. The effects of diluted cell-free supernatants (CFS) from late-exponential Lactobacillus cultures on the growth and biofilm production of Escherichia coli were tested. Most of the CFS applied as 10−2 had no impact on bacterial growth, biofilm development however was influenced even by 10−4 of CFS. Initial screening by crystal violet assay showed that biofilm modulation varied between different CFS and E. coli combinations from inhibition to activation; however three of the tested CFS showed consistency in biofilm suppression. This was not due to antibacterial activity since Live/Dead fluorescence labeling showed insignificant differences in the amount of dead cells in control and treated samples. Some E. coli strain-specific mechanisms of response to the three CFS included reduction in hydrophobicity and motility. Released exoploysaccharides isolated from the three CFS stimulated sessile growth, but proteinase K reduced their inhibitory activities implying participation of protein or peptide biofilm suppression factor(s).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Morphology of Microorganisms and Electron Microscopy, Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Anna Vacheva, Radka Mihova, Krasimira Vasileva & Stoyanka R. Stoitsova

  2. Department of Microbial Genetics, Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Ralitsa Georgieva & Svetla Danova

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Plovdiv University ‘Paisij Hilendarski’, 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

    Mariana Marhova & Sonia Kostadinova

  4. Department of Solid State Physics, Sofia University, 1164, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Maria Bivolarska

Authors
  1. Anna Vacheva
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  2. Ralitsa Georgieva
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  9. Stoyanka R. Stoitsova
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Correspondence to Stoyanka R. Stoitsova.

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Vacheva, A., Georgieva, R., Danova, S. et al. Modulation of Escherichia coli biofilm growth by cell-free spent cultures from lactobacilli. cent.eur.j.biol. 7, 219–229 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11535-012-0004-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11535-012-0004-9

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