Hall-Stoodley Luanne, Costerton J William, Stoodley Paul
Department of Veterinary Molecular Microbiology, Departments of Microbiology and Civil Engineering, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2004 Feb;2(2):95-108. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro821.
Biofilms--matrix-enclosed microbial accretions that adhere to biological or non-biological surfaces--represent a significant and incompletely understood mode of growth for bacteria. Biofilm formation appears early in the fossil record (approximately 3.25 billion years ago) and is common throughout a diverse range of organisms in both the Archaea and Bacteria lineages, including the 'living fossils' in the most deeply dividing branches of the phylogenetic tree. It is evident that biofilm formation is an ancient and integral component of the prokaryotic life cycle, and is a key factor for survival in diverse environments. Recent advances show that biofilms are structurally complex, dynamic systems with attributes of both primordial multicellular organisms and multifaceted ecosystems. Biofilm formation represents a protected mode of growth that allows cells to survive in hostile environments and also disperse to colonize new niches. The implications of these survival and propagative mechanisms in the context of both the natural environment and infectious diseases are discussed in this review.
生物膜——附着于生物或非生物表面的、被基质包裹的微生物聚集体——是细菌一种重要但尚未被完全理解的生长模式。生物膜形成在化石记录中出现得很早（约32.5亿年前），并且在古菌和细菌谱系的各种生物中都很常见，包括系统发育树最深分支中的“活化石”。显然，生物膜形成是原核生物生命周期中古老且不可或缺的组成部分，也是在各种环境中生存的关键因素。最近的进展表明，生物膜是结构复杂的动态系统，兼具原始多细胞生物和多面生态系统的特征。生物膜形成代表了一种受保护的生长模式，使细胞能够在恶劣环境中生存，并扩散以定殖新的生态位。本综述讨论了这些生存和繁殖机制在自然环境和传染病背景下的意义。
