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Biofilms are colonies of microorganisms that form on liquid or solid surfaces, often in response to external stimuli. They represent a substantial health concern in clinical environments as they can cause chronic and medical device-related infections if not properly controlled. Other biofilms forge symbiotic relationships by protecting plant roots, which can be beneficial in agriculture. The mechanisms responsible for biofilm formation depend on the microorganism species, but many related species have similar environmental triggers. Bacillus subtilis is a gram-positive bacteria and well-documented model organism for biofilm formation. However, the specific chemical and environmental stimulators of biofilms (and their interactions with one another) are relatively unknown. Here we show that propionate, pyruvate, and acetate stimulate transcriptional reporters associated with biofilm formation and likely have additive properties. These transcriptional reporter assays indicate that combinations of compounds produce larger stimulations in gene expression when compared with corresponding concentrations of any single compound. These results also provide insight into compound-specific mechanisms of stimulating biofilm pathways as different compounds were able to stimulate some reporters better than others. These results suggest that tolerance levels for these compounds in a clinical environment may change if more than one is present. Furthermore, interactions between these compounds could become a useful agricultural tool to make crops more resilient. More research is needed to reinforce these results, determine which compounds have this additive property, and understand the biochemical mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. This research was supported by an NIH R15 grant.
Mauriello et al. (Fri,) studied this question.