Munich School of Bioengineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany.
Biomater Sci. 2019 Nov 1;7(11):4675-4686. doi: 10.1039/c9bm00927b. Epub 2019 Sep 2.
The erosion resistance of bacterial biofilms can be a double-edged sword: it hampers the removal of undesired biofilms in biomedical settings, but it is necessary for beneficial biofilms to be used in aqueous environments for biotechnological applications. Whether or not a bacterial biofilm exhibits this material property depends on the bacterial species and the detailed composition of the biofilm matrix. Here, we demonstrate how the erosion resistance of B. subtilis NCIB 3610 biofilms can be enhanced by integrating foreign (bio)polymers into the matrix during biofilm growth. As a result of this artificial macromolecule addition, the engineered biofilm colonies show changes in their surface topography which, in turn, cause an alteration in the mode of surface superhydrophobicity. Surprisingly, the viscoelastic properties and permeability of the biofilms towards antibiotics remain unaffected. The method introduced here may present a promising strategy for engineering beneficial biofilms such, that they become more stable towards shear forces caused by flowing water but, at the same time, remain permeable to nutrients or other molecules.
它阻碍了在生物医学环境中去除不需要的生物膜，但对于在水基环境中用于生物技术应用的有益生物膜来说，这种抗侵蚀性是必要的。细菌生物膜是否表现出这种材料特性取决于细菌种类和生物膜基质的详细组成。在这里，我们展示了如何通过在生物膜生长过程中将外来（生物）聚合物整合到基质中，来增强枯草芽孢杆菌 NCIB 3610 生物膜的抗侵蚀性。由于这种人工大分子的添加，工程化的生物膜菌落表现出其表面形貌的变化，进而导致表面超疏水性模式的改变。令人惊讶的是，生物膜的粘弹性性质和对抗生素的渗透性保持不变。这里介绍的方法可能为工程有益生物膜提供一种有前途的策略，使它们在流动水产生的剪切力下更稳定，但同时仍然对营养物质或其他分子具有渗透性。
