Macroscopic and Nanoscale Measurements of the Adhesion of Bacteria with Varying Outer Layer Surface Composition

Abstract

The influence of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) chain length on bacterial adhesion was investigated by measuring the collision efficiencies of three Escherichia coli K12 strains, each having a different length LPS, to silica glass beads in column tests (macroscale tests). Nanoscale interactions between the bacteria and a silicon nitride tip were probed utilizing atomic force microscopy (AFM). Adhesion results based on column tests indicated that collision efficiencies of the three bacteria were not consistently correlated to LPS length. Under conditions of low ionic strength (1 mM NaCl), collision efficiencies increased with LPS length for the three strains of E. coli. However, if cells were fixed with glutaraldehyde (2.5%), the strain with the shortest LPS chain had the greatest adhesion, while the bacterium with the mid-length LPS had the least adhesion to glass beads. Collision efficiencies increased when the solution ionic strength was increased from 1 to 100 mM as expected, and in most cases glutaraldehyde treatment also increased adhesion. AFM force curves failed to distinguish the adhesion characteristics of these bacteria measured in column tests, as all AFM force curves on the bacteria were identical. Changes in adhesion were also not predictable by more conventional measurements of bacterial properties based on ζ potential or contact angle. These results suggest that the LPS molecule length is not the sole determinant of adhesion of the three E. coli strains in porous media and that AFM force curve analysis, zeta potential, or contact angle data cannot yet be used to fully predict adhesion of these three strains to glass beads.

Impact of tortuous flow on bacteria streamer development in microfluidic system during filtration

“…Biophysical aspects of the different steps of the biofilm formation in porous media are still unclear: many parameters can influence the steps of adhesion and three-dimensional structure of the biofilm including physico-chemical and hydrodynamic environment. Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation have been proved sensitive to numerous physico-chemical factors: the bacteria cell type (Gannon et al, 1991 andvan Loosdrecht et al, 1987), their physiology and surface properties with the presence of extracellular polymeric substances (Burks et al, 2003), their motility (de Kerchove and Elimelech, 2008), the wall surface hydrophobicity (Sch€ afer et al, 1998). The aqueous solution in which bacteria are dispersed (ionic strength, pH) can also induce changes in the bacterial wall (Gaboriaud et al, 2008) thus influencing the capture of bacteria in porous media (Jewett et al, 1995 andTorkzaban et al, 2008).…”

“…The aqueous solution in which bacteria are dispersed (ionic strength, pH) can also induce changes in the bacterial wall (Gaboriaud et al, 2008) thus influencing the capture of bacteria in porous media (Jewett et al, 1995 andTorkzaban et al, 2008). The impact of the fluid flow has been studied for different flow configurations such as stagnation points and packed bed (Burks et al, 2003;Liu and Li, 2008;and Walker et al, 2004). Yazdi and Ardekani (2012) have shown that a vertical flow of an oscillating bubble can play an important role in Escherichia coli collection and eventually triggers the formation of streamers.…”

Atomic Force Microscopy

“…Properties like motility (Camper, 1993), growth rate (Mercer, 1993), cell shape and size (Weiss, 1995), growth phase (Fletcher, 1977), cell elasticity, electrostatics (Velegol and Logan, 2002) and length of lipo-polysaccharides present on the cell surface (Burks et al, 2003) affect the attachment. The properties of a cell such as shape, size and motility depend on the growth phase of the cell.…”

Solid mechanics in colloidal and bacterial filtration

“…These studies revealed new factors affecting colloidal or bacterial filtration, e.g. bacterial surface characterizations (Abu-Lail & Camesano, 2003;Burks et al, 2003;Kuznar & Elimelech, 2005;Rijnaarts, Norde, Bouwer, Lyklema, & Zehnder, 1995, 1996bRijnaarts, Norde, Lyklema, & Zehnder, 1999;Williams & Fletcher, 1996), motility (Matthew W Becker, Samantha A Collins, David W Metge, Ronald W Harvey, & Allen M Shapiro, 2004;Camesano & Logan, 1998;Camper, Hayes, Sturman, Jones, & Cunningham, 1993;Hendry, Lawrence, & Maloszewski, 1999;McCaulou, Bales, & Arnold, 1995), softness (Ivanov, 2012;Y. Li, Wang, Onnis-Hayden, Wan, & Gu, 2014;X.…”

“…Recent studies which attempted to improve our understanding on the role of such macromolecules in microbial adhesion, showed that the presence of surface biomolecules can either enhance (Abu-Lail & Camesano, 2003;Burks et al, 2003;Rijnaarts et al, 1995Rijnaarts et al, , 1996bRijnaarts et al, 1999;Walker et al, 2004) or hinder (Burks et al, 2003;Kuznar & Elimelech, 2005;Rijnaarts et al, 1995Rijnaarts et al, , 1996bRijnaarts et al, 1999;Williams & Fletcher, 1996) microbe adhesion in aqueous media. Correlation of transport/adhesion behavior of E Coli (K12 mutant JM109, Abu-Lail and Camesano) and LPS on cell wall is still not clear (Burks et al, 2003;Walker et al, 2004). Proteins on the C. parvum oocyst wall can give rise to a steric interaction (repulsion) thereby decreasing the degree of oocyst attachment to quartz surface.…”