Antimicrobial and Antibacterial Agents

Biofilms Formation

A biofilm comprises any group of syntrophic microorganisms in which cells bind to one another and sometimes also to a surface. Biofilms can form on living or non-living surfaces and can occur in natural, industrial and hospital environments. The microbial cells that grow in a biofilm are physiologically distinct from the same organism's planktonic cells, which, on the other hand, are single cells that can swim or float in a liquid medium. Biofilms can grow on the teeth of most animals as a dental plaque, where they can cause decay and gum disease. In response to various factors, microbes form a biofilm, including cell recognition of specific or non-specific attachment sites on a substrate, nutritional signs, or, in some cases, exposure of planktonic cells to sub-inhibitory antibiotic levels. A cell that switches to the growth mode of biofilm is undergoing a phenotypic behavioral shift in which large gene suites are regulated differently