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Mycobacterium Biofilms Synthesis, Ultrastructure, and Their Perspectives in Drug Tolerance, Environment, and Medicine

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Microbial Polymers

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Abstract

Bacteria protect their cells from harsh environmental conditions by naturally forming biofilms. Biofilms consist of bacterial cells, exopolysaccharides, extracellular protein as well as extracellular DNA regulated by different genetic and environmental factors include medium, nutrient availability, matrix properties, pH, temperature, organic material, etc. During biofilm synthesis, bacteria use quorum sensing activity for cell-to-cell signaling for biofilm development as well as biofilm maintenance. In mycobacteria, glycopeptidolipids are supportive in biofilms formation and surface attachment. Mycolic acids of acid-fast bacteria contribute to the formation of the mycobacterial envelope with overall structure and functions. It also provides a permeability barrier to resist the microbes from many common therapeutic agents like antibiotics and disinfectants. Several reports showed that drug-tolerant biofilms formed by mycobacterial species were resistant to antibiotics and disinfectants in vitro. Therefore, in this time we have to focus to develop new strategies to combat biofilm formation in mycobacterium and other pathogenic bacterial species which give drug tolerance, host defense, and protection from adverse environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are very thankful to DBT, New Delhi and NRDC, New Delhi for financial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Applied Sciences and Humanities, GLA University, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Kundan Kumar Chaubey, Mohd. Abdullah, Saurabh Gupta, Manthena Navabharath & Shoor Vir Singh

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  1. Kundan Kumar Chaubey
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  2. Mohd. Abdullah
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  3. Saurabh Gupta
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  4. Manthena Navabharath
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Correspondence to Kundan Kumar Chaubey .

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  1. Department of Biotechnology, GLA University, Mathura, India

    Anukool Vaishnav

  2. Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University, Noida, India

    Devendra Kumar Choudhary

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Chaubey, K.K., Abdullah, M., Gupta, S., Navabharath, M., Singh, S.V. (2021). Mycobacterium Biofilms Synthesis, Ultrastructure, and Their Perspectives in Drug Tolerance, Environment, and Medicine. In: Vaishnav, A., Choudhary, D.K. (eds) Microbial Polymers. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0045-6_19

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