Cellular, particle and environmental parameters influencing attachment in surface waters: a review

Abstract

SummaryEffective modelling of the fate and transport of water-borne pathogens is needed to support federally required pollution-reduction plans, for water quality improvement planning, and to protect public health. Lack of understanding of microbial-particle interactions in water bodies has sometimes led to the assumption that bacteria move in surface waters not associated with suspended mineral and organic particles, despite a growing body of evidence suggesting otherwise. Limited information exists regarding the factors driving interactions between micro-organisms and particles in surface waters. This review discusses cellular, particle and environmental factors potentially influencing interactions and in-stream transport. Bacterial attachment in the aquatic environment can be influenced by properties of the cell such as genetic predisposition and physiological state, surface structures such as flagella and fimbriae, the hydrophobicity and electrostatic charge of the cell surface, and the presence of outer-membrane proteins and extracellular polymeric substances. The mechanisms and degree of attachment are also affected by characteristics of mineral and organic particles including the size, surface area, charge and hydrophobicity. Environmental conditions such as the solution chemistry and temperature are also known to play an important role. Just as the size and surface of chemical particles can be highly variable, bacterial attachment mechanisms are also diverse.

E. coli Surface Properties Differ between Stream Water and Sediment Environments

“…Extracellular polymeric substance are high-molecular-mass compounds secreted by microorganisms at the outer cell surface (Liao et al, 2015). They are mainly composed of polysaccharides and proteins, but they may also include other macromolecules such as DNA, lipids, and humic-like substances.…”

Quantifying Attachment and Antibiotic Resistance of Escherichia coli from Conventional and Organic Swine Manure

“…Because of this, many studies have investigated the fate and transport of E. coli in the environment (USEPA, 2012). Escherichia coli has been shown to attach preferentially to particulate matter (Auer and Niehaus, 1993;Ling et al, 2002;Fries et al, 2006;Liao et al, 2015), aiding in the survival and transport of bacteria within the environment (Gerba and McLeod, 1976;Burton et al, 1987;Pommepuy et al, 1992). The attached fraction of E. coli from runoff from manure-amended fields has been reported to range from >1 to >49% (Muirhead et al, 2005;Soupir and Mostaghimi, 2011).…”

“…Although particle-mediated transport of fecal indicator bacteria in the environment is clearly important (Liao et al, 2015), studies examining relationships between attachment and antibiotic resistance are limited. Liu et al (2011) evaluated 203 porcine isolates of E. coli in an effort to determine if a relationship between attachment to very fine silica sand (sand) and antibiotic resistance exists.…”

Allelic Variation in Outer Membrane Protein A and Its Influence on Attachment of Escherichia coli to Corn Stover

“…Escherichia coli , which is the focus of the research described here, was the known causative agent in more than 10% of the cases in which the etiology was determined (Murray et al, 2014). Bacteria in aquatic environments can attach to sediment particles, contributing to their persistence and transport (Schillinger and Gannon, 1985; Song et al, 1994; Davies and Bavor, 2000; Bai and Lung, 2005; Liao et al, 2015). To guide planning for water quality management and reduction of waterborne disease outbreaks, improved understanding of microbe-particle interactions is essential.…”

“…The Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory has been reported to efficiently predict bacteria-mineral interactions, in which the interaction force is a function of both cell surface net charge and hydrophobicity (Rijnaarts et al, 1999; Hori and Matsumoto, 2010; Zhao et al, 2014). In this context, cell surface net charge and cell surface hydrophobicity are regarded as two chemical properties that contribute to microbial attachment to solids, though some studies suggest that the contribution of hydrophobicity and surface charge may differ depending on the surface in question (Rivas et al, 2007; Bolster et al, 2009; Liao et al, 2015). Our previous characterization of 78 environmental E. coli isolates shows a range of cell surface charge from −39.9 to −6.8 mV in terms of zeta potential and hydrophobicity from 0.01 to 0.9 (Liang et al, 2016).…”