General Biofilms Flashcards
- What is a biofilm?
a. A biofilm is a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced extracellular polymeric matrix (EPS) and adherent to inert or living surfaces (Costerton, 1999).
- The Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms that grow on the surface of plant roots prevent the growth of ______ pathogens.
a. Fungal
- Biofilms that grow on ingested plant material within the _____aid efficient breakdown of the plant which in turn provides the ruminant with energy which is converted to meat and milk.
a. Rumen
- What are the five stages of biofilm formation?
a. (1) Initial attachment
b. (2 Genetic changes and production of EPS
c. (3) Early development
d. (4) Maturation
e. (5) Dispersion
- What factors affect the attachment phase?
a. Physiochemical properties of a surface affect colonisation
b. Surface texture and roughness
c. Electrostatic charge
d. Surface free energy
e. Hydrophobicity
f. The presence of a conditioning film
- In most biofilms the microbial cells account for approx. ______of the biomass with EPS constituting ______ (Flemming and Wingender, 2010)
a. 10%
b. 90%
- Attrachtion to surfaces occurs initially from what type of forces for motile bacteria?
a. Van der Waals
- What way do non-motile bacteria end up in biofilms initially?
a. Random
- What is the second stage of attachment of a cell decides not to leave?
a. Irreversible attachment
- Once the cells dcide to for the biofilm what happens next?
a. Growth and division
- Biofilms will split up into sections to increase surface area in what type of environment?
a. Aquatic
- When there are too many microbes in they will ______?
a. Disperse
- The dispersed cell from a biofilm can do two things what are they?
a. Go on to form another biofilm
b. Be broke down in the rumen to provide proteins and nutrients
- What surfaces are more likely to get biofilms? And Why?
a. Rough, indents etc, as its protected
- What is a conditioning film? Why is this important?
a. surface coatings formed by the adsorption of biomolecules from the surrounding environment that can modify the material-specific surface properties and precedes the attachment of microorganisms.
- EPS composed mainly of______, proteins, DNA and lipids (proportions differ dependent of environment)– up-regulation, lysis and membrane vesicles (Flemming and Wingender, 2010)
a. Polysaccharides
- What is the Main component of most EPS matrices (approx . 50%)
a. Polysaccharides
- What are the majority of the polysaccharides in the EPS?
a. Heteropolysaccharides
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa up-regulates alginate release to the EPS? What is it?
a. Alginate
b. Heteropolysaccharides
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa known to actively release ‘unwanted’ non-coding _____or ______ to the EPS within blebbed ______vesicles (Schooling et al., 2006)
a. DNA
b. enzymes
c. membrane
- The _____ and _______in membrane vesicle s keep a structure to the EPS.
a. DNA
b. Proteins
- Enzymes – many extracellular enzymes involved in degradation of biopolymers found in EPS. These are usually released extracellularly by the attached _______although some are a product of cell______.
a. Bacteria
b. Lysis
- Structural proteins – Non-enzymatic proteins are involved in stabilization of the EPS matrix e.g’s include_______. Present due to cell lysis
a. Lectin
- Treatment of Rhodovulum spp. biofilms with nucleolytic enzymes – biofilm dispersion. Polysaccharide and protein-degrading enzymes had no effect. (T/F)
a. True
- What protection does the biofilm give you?
a. Antibiotics
b. Toxins
c. Antibodies
d. phage attack
e. predation by protozoa
- How are nutrient provided in a biofilm?
a. Trace organics will concentrate on surfaces
b. Extracellular polymers will further concentrate trace nutrients from bulk water
c. Secondary colonizers utilize the waste products from their neighbours
d. Bacteria armed with enzymes can break down food supplies that single species could alone
- How is stability provided in a biofilm?
a. DNA and prtien and the polysaccharides
b. But have the ability to leave
- How does community aid a biofilm?
a. Gene transfer
b. signal transduction
c. quorum sensing
- Cells within biofilms are reported to be _________ times more resistant to antimicrobials than planktonic cells.
a. 10-1000
- Why are biofilms able to develop antimicrobial resistance?
a. Diffusion limitation
b. Generation time
c. Efflux pumps
d. Clonal expansion of pre-existing, resistant mutants
- E. colii describe:
a. Graham negative
b. Motile: Petritrichous flagella arrangement.
- What part of E. coli is vital for biofilm formation? When E. coli had a muttion in the flagella how does this affect the biofilm?
a. Flagellar active movement vital for biofilm formation
b. Flagella – mutants = little biofilm formation
- Cyclic-diguanylic acid (c-di-GMP) play a big role in shifting to ______state, through ______
a. Sessile
b. Upregulation
- Irreversible attachment involve attachment using fimbriae? Stay? Leave?
a. Make a strong attachment
- Type 1 Fimbriae is encoded by ______ gene found in the majority of _______ serovars.
a. Fim
b. E, coli
- What is the diameter, lengths, and number of fimbriae of Type 1, on E. coli?
a. 5-7nm diameter and 0.2-2m long; typically 100-500
- Mutants –_____and ____ reduced attachment and thus biofilm formation
a. fimA
b. fimH