The Influence of Substratum Surface Properties on the Attachment of a Marine Bacterium

Influence of initial substratum surface tension on marine micro- and macro-fouling in the Gulf of Thailand

“…Although several studies reported substratum surface tension as an important factor in substratum colonisation (e.g., Fletcher & Loeb, 1979;Dexter, 1979;Absolom et al, 1983;Eiben, 1976;Hsieh & Timm, 1988;Mihm et a[., 1981;Rittscho[ & Costlow, 1989;Roberts et al, 1991;Lindner, 1992), the present study suggests that surface tension has a very limited impact on the density of fouling organisms under natural conditions. None of the surface tensions tested offered unfavourable conditions for attachment, strong e n o u g h to minimize surface colonisation by high d e t a c h m e n t and low attachment rates of fouling organisms.…”

“…Dexter (1979) proposed a thermodynamic model which explains that adhesion in seawater is minimal between 20 and 25 mN m ~. Other studies found that attachment strength and colonisation density decreased with increasing surface tension (Eiben, 1976;Fletcher & Loeb, 1979;Absolom et al, 1983;Mihm et al, 1981;van Pelt et al, 1985;Rittschof & Costlow, 1989;Burchard et al, 1990;Roberts et al, 1991) or increased with surface tension (Absolom et al, 1983;Becka & Loeb, 1984;Fletcher & Baler, 1984;Crisp et al, 1985;Udhayakumar & Karande, 1986;Rittschof & Costlow, 1989;Roberts et al, 1991;Becker, 1993). Some studies indicate that surface tension responses differ from species to species.…”

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

“…In general, hydrophilic materials are more resistant to bacterial adhesion than hydrophobic ones [68,69]. Surface contact angle is mainly used to indicate the membrane's hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity, based on how water droplets form on the surface on which they are deposited.…”

Progress of marine biofouling and antifouling technologies

“…Microorganism colonization involves two distinct steps: reversible adsorption, and irreversible adhesion. The former is governed mainly by physical effects such as Brownian motion, electrostatic interaction, gravity, water flow and van der Waals forces [7][8][9][10]. The latter occurs mainly through biochemical effects such as secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS).…”

“…Bacterial adhesion occurs as a result of the interaction of planktonic cells with the surface by physical reactions, such as electrostatic interactions [7], gravity [8] and water flow. After the initial reversible absorption, bacteria use extracellular polymers to temporarily adhere to the surface.…”