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Surfactin effectively inhibits Staphylococcus aureus adhesion and biofilm formation on surfaces

  • Applied microbial and cell physiology
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Abstract

Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds that composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties, which possess the ability of self-organizing between phases, reducing the interfacial tension, and forming aggregates such as micelles. This spontaneous process results in significant changes in surface properties that directly influence the adherence of microorganisms. In this study, the ability of surfactin, a biosurfactant produced by Bacillus subtilis in reducing adhesion and disrupting the presence of biofilm of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) on several surfaces, was investigated. Significant biofilm removal was observed on glass, polystyrene, and stainless steel surfaces. Furthermore, we explored the probable mechanism about how surfactin affected S. aureus biofilm formation. Based on our findings, surfactin had a significant effect on the polysaccharides production and especially decreased the percentage of alkali-soluble polysaccharide in biofilms. It also down-regulated the expression of icaA and icaD significantly, which are necessary for the important constituents to take shape of staphylococcal biofilm. In addition, it was found that the lipopeptide affected the quorum sensing (QS) system in S. aureus through regulating the auto inducer 2 (AI-2) activity, which has been reported to be negative for biofilm formation in S. aureus. These above properties could be applied in developing surfactin as a potential pre-coating agent on material surfaces to prevent S. aureus biofilm formation.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.31571887), Agricultural Innovation foundation of Jiangsu Province (CX 16-1058).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Jin Liu, Wei Li, Xiaoyu Zhu, Haizhen Zhao, Chong Zhang & Zhaoxin Lu

  2. Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Yingjian Lu

  3. College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, 210003, China

    Yingjian Lu

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  1. Jin Liu
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  2. Wei Li
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  3. Xiaoyu Zhu
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  4. Haizhen Zhao
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  7. Zhaoxin Lu
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Correspondence to Zhaoxin Lu.

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Liu, J., Li, W., Zhu, X. et al. Surfactin effectively inhibits Staphylococcus aureus adhesion and biofilm formation on surfaces. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 103, 4565–4574 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-09808-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-09808-w

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