Effects of Different Amino Acids on Biofilm Growth, Swimming Motility and Twitching Motility in Escherichia Coli BL21

Abstract

Biofilms are surface-attached, matrix-enclosed microbial communities that can cause various diseases like formation of dental plague, urinary tract infection and cystic fibrosis. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of amino acids (arginine, valine, leucine, glycine, lysine, phenylalanine, threonine and proline) on biofilm formation swimming motility and twitching motility in Escherichia coli BL21. M63 minimal salt media (supplemented with different types and concentrations of amino acids) were used for induction of biofilm formation and the resulting biofilm growth was quantified spectrophotometrically at optical density of 550 nm after 24 hours of inoculation. For swimming and twitching motility assays, amino acid-supplemented tryptone and Luria-Bertani agar plates were used and the diameter of halo formed in the agar was measured after the same duration. The eight amino acids tested showed varied effects on biofilm formation, swimming motility and twitching motility in E. coli BL21. Leucine, glycine, threonine and proline promoted both twitching and swimming motility up to about 100%. Arginine and valine increased swimming motility up to 50% but had no effect on twitching motility. Lysine and phenylalanine completely inhibited both swimming and twitching motility in the bacteria. With regard to biofilm formation, both leucine and valine promoted it up to a maximum of 25%. However, glycine, lysine, phenylalanine, and threonine inhibited biofilm formation; proline and arginine showed inhibitory effects only at higher concentrations (0.4%). These results suggest that amino acids may play a role in inhibiting or promoting biofilm formation. The potential use of amino acid-based dietary supplements to control biofilm formation and ultimately to treat its associated diseases warrants further investigation.

Characterization of extracellular polymeric substances of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SQR9 induced by root exudates of cucumber

“…Magnification at 60 Â 1.2 NA in DCS1 and 100 Â in DCS3 and DCS5, respectively. of SQR9 to form biofilms in the presence of lysine, histidine, arginine, alanine, cysteine, phenylalanine, methionine, leucine, valine, and isoleucine concurred with other findings where arginine, valine, leucine, lysine, and phenylalanine acted as biofilm promoters in Escherichia coli BL21 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa [29,30]. In other studies, alanine and asparagine were reported as carbon sources for growth mainly by bacteria from the root tips, and to a lesser extent from the intermediate region, of cucumber grown on rock wool [31].…”

“…In this study, glycine, threonine, serine, glutamate, and aspartate inhibited biofilm formation. Other studies had shown glycine and threonine as having an inhibitory effect on biofilm formation of E. coli BL21 [29].…”

Global Dynamic Proteome Study of a Pellicle-forming Acinetobacter baumannii Strain

“…Histidine and Aromatic Amino Acids Metabolism During Pellicle Biogenesis-Amino acids availability can also modulate bacterial biofilm development (27,68,69). Several proteins involved in the aromatic amino acids metabolism were here found accumulated in pellicles.…”

New insights into indole-3-acetic acid metabolism inAzospirillum brasilense

“…In Escherichia coli BL21, l‐ lys and l‐ phe (out of eight tested amino acids) have negative effects on motility and biofilm formation (Goh et al . ). In P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, the addition of l‐ trp and l‐ tyr inhibited biofilm formation, while l‐ met and l‐ leu did not (Brandenburg et al .…”