Analysis of Bacterial Biofilms Using NMR-Based Metabolomics

Abstract

Infectious diseases can be difficult to cure, especially if the pathogen forms a biofilm. After decades of extensive research into the morphology, physiology and genomics of biofilm formation, attention has recently been directed toward the analysis of the cellular metabolome in order to understand the transformation of a planktonic cell to a biofilm. Metabolomics can play an invaluable role in enhancing our understanding of the underlying biological processes related to the structure, formation and antibiotic resistance of biofilms. A systematic view of metabolic pathways or processes responsible for regulating this ‘social structure’ of microorganisms may provide critical insights into biofilm-related drug resistance and lead to novel treatments. This review will discuss the development of NMR-based metabolomics as a technology to study medically relevant biofilms. Recent advancements from case studies reviewed in this manuscript have shown the potential of metabolomics to shed light on numerous biological problems related to biofilms.

The Future of Metabolomics and Individual Monitoring in Antimicrobial Therapy

“…For that reason determine biofilm transition and presence will be a fundamental biomarker for select the proper antimicrobial approach. For that reason, detection of Quorum Sensing (QS) molecules that regulates biofilm formation as N-acyl homoserine lactones and Furanosyl borate diester can be useful in early diagnosis and monitoring of bacteria-related diseases [12]. As was demonstrated in cystic fibrosis in which QS signal molecules were detected is sputum, plasma and urine from patients with pulmonary Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection and correlates with clinical status [13].…”

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolite Profiling of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Differentiates between Biofilm and Planktonic Phenotypes

“…Existing literature about biofilm metabolomics is limited to studies using NMR (13,15), which is restricted by lowsensitivity measurements. MS is highly sensitive but less quantitative, and the inevitable use of chromatography to separate metabolites results in variations in the metabolome (21). As such, a combined application of NMR-and MS-based analytical techniques should yield a more comprehensive metabolite profile than applying each technique individually (22).…”

Recent Advances and Applications of Metabolomics to Investigate Neurodegenerative Diseases

“…Mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are the two analytical platforms most predominantly used in metabolomics. NMR permits the analysis of complex mixtures of metabolites with little or no sample preparation in a rapid and non-destructive way (Zhang, Nagana-Gowda, Ye, & Raftery, 2010) and has been largely applied in metabolomics (Zhang & Powers, 2012). Although NMR spectra are very informative, low sensitivity and high data complexity limit quantitative profiling to less than100 compounds in most biological samples (Bain et al, 2009).…”