The effect of surface charge property on Escherichia coli initial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation

Abstract

Polyethylene (PE) sheets were modified by radiation-induced graft polymerization (RIGP) of an epoxy-group containing monomer glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). The epoxy group of GMA was opened by introducing sodium sulfite (SS) and diethylamine (DEA) as representatives of negatively and positively charged functional groups, respectively. These modified surfaces by RIGP, termed GMA, SS, and DEA sheets, were investigated to elucidate their effects on initial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation of Escherichia coli. Initial adhesion test revealed that E. coli density and viability were governed by sheet surface electrostatic property: E. coli cell density on the DEA sheet was 23 times higher than that on the SS sheet after 8 h incubation. The viability of E. coli cells dramatically decreased after contact with the DEA sheet, but remained high on the SS sheet. E. coli biofilm structure on the DEA sheet was dense, homogeneous, and uniform, with biomass higher than that of the GMA and SS sheets by factors of 14.0 and 37.5, respectively. On the contrary, biofilm structure on the SS sheet was sparse, heterogeneous, and mushroom-shaped. More than 40% of E. coli biofilm on the DEA sheet was retained under a high liquid shear force condition (5,000 s(-1)), whereas 97% and 100% of biofilms on the GMA and SS sheets were sloughed, indicating that E. coli biofilm robustness depends on surface charge property of the substratum. This suggests that substratum surface fabrication by RIGP may enhance or suppress biofilm formation, a finding with potentially important practical implications.

The role of cell-surface interactions in bacterial initial adhesion and consequent biofilm formation on nanofiltration/reverse osmosis membranes

“…Terada et al [75] showed that the surface charge is very important not only during initial cell adhesion but also in the long term biofouling formation of E. coli cells onto polymeric surfaces.…”

Multifunctional scanning ion conductance microscopy

“…Surface charge is of vital importance in a diverse range of complex interfacial systems, though perhaps most significantly in living systems, where it is known to play a key role in many processes, including cellular growth and division [102,103], adherence [104][105][106], cellular uptake [107][108][109][110][111] and communication [112][113][114]. Thus, a robust method of quantitatively resolving spatial heterogeneities in surface charge density adds significant functional power to SICM.…”

Potential effect of cationic liposomes on interactions with oral bacterial cells and biofilms

“…We previously reported that the surface charge of liposomes containing cationic lipids was positive, which enhanced their interaction with negatively charged molecules, for example nucleic acids (Endo-Takahashi et al, 2013, 2014. Since bacterial cell surfaces are negatively charged due to the dissociation of a phosphate group and carboxyl group under neutral conditions, biofilms have also been suggested to have a negative charge (Li et al, 2013;Terada et al, 2012).…”