Biofilms: Microbial Cities of Scientific Significance

By R. Vasudevan. 2014

168 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Biofilms are defined as the self produced extra polymeric matrices that comprises of sessile microbial community where the cells are characterized by their attachment to either biotic or abiotic surfaces. These extra cellular slime natured cover encloses the microbial cells and protects from various external factors. The components of biofilms are very vital as they contribute towards the structural and functional aspects of the biofilms. Microbial biofilms comprises of major classes of macromolecules like nucleic acids, polysaccharides, proteins, enzymes, lipids, humic substances as well as ions. The presence of these components indeed makes them resilient and enables them to survive hostile conditions. Different kinds of forces like the hydrogen bonds and electrostatic force of attraction are responsible for holding the microbial cells together in a biofilm and the interstitial voids and the water channels play a significant role in the circulation of nutrients to every cell in the biofilm. The current review adds a note on bacterial biofilms and attempts to provide an insight on the aspects ranging from their harmful effects on the human community to their useful application. The review also discusses the possible therapeutic strategies to overcome the detrimental effects of biofilms.

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Ecology, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2534e8d01ff203c4e3aff84f2763077854ea4af7