Azevedo Andreia S, Gerola Gislaine P, Baptista João, Almeida Carina, Peres Joana, Mergulhão Filipe J, Azevedo Nuno F
LEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho Braga, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
Antibiotics (Basel). 2020 Nov 17;9(11):818. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics9110818.
Intraspecies diversity in biofilm communities is associated with enhanced survival and growth of the individual biofilm populations. Studies on the subject are scarce, namely, when more than three strains are present. Hence, in this study, the influence of intraspecies diversity in biofilm populations composed of up to six different strains isolated from urine was evaluated in conditions mimicking the ones observed in urinary tract infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. In general, with the increasing number of strains in a biofilm, an increase in cell cultivability and a decrease in matrix production were observed. For instance, single-strain biofilms produced an average of 73.1 µg·cm of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), while six strains biofilms produced 19.9 µg·cm. Hence, it appears that increased genotypic diversity in a biofilm leads to direct energy towards the production of its offspring, in detriment of the production of public goods (i.e., matrix components). Apart from ecological implications, these results can be explored as another strategy to reduce the biofilm burden, as a decrease in EPS matrix production may render these intraspecies biofilms more sensitive to antimicrobial agents.
生物膜群落中的种内多样性与单个生物膜群体的生存和生长增强有关。关于这一主题的研究很少，特别是当存在三种以上菌株时。因此，在本研究中，在模拟尿路感染和导管相关尿路感染中观察到的条件下，评估了由多达六种从尿液中分离出的不同菌株组成的生物膜群体中的种内多样性的影响。一般来说，随着生物膜中菌株数量的增加，观察到细胞可培养性增加和基质产生减少。例如，单菌株生物膜平均产生73.1μg·cm的细胞外聚合物（EPS），而六菌株生物膜产生19.9μg·cm。因此，似乎生物膜中基因型多样性的增加导致将能量直接用于其后代的产生，从而损害公共物品（即基质成分）的产生。除了生态意义外，这些结果可以作为减少生物膜负担的另一种策略来探索，因为EPS基质产生的减少可能使这些种内生物膜对抗菌剂更敏感。
