D-Amino Acids Trigger Biofilm Disassembly

By Ilana Kolodkin-Gal, D. Romero, Shugeng Cao, Jon Clardy, Robert Kolter, R. Losick. Science, 2010

847 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Biofilm Today, Gone Tomorrow Most bacteria can form complex, matrix-containing multicellular communities known as biofilms, which protect residents from environmental stresses such as antibiotic exposure. However, as biofilms age, nutrients become limiting and waste products accumulate, and biofim disassembly is triggered. Now Kolodkin-Gal et al. (p. 627) have found that d-amino acids found in conditioned medium from mature biofilms of Bacillus subtilis prevent biofilm formation and trigger existing biofilm disassembly. Bacteria secrete an unusual form of amino acids to escape from aging communities by dissolving the surrounding matrix. Bacteria form communities known as biofilms, which disassemble over time. In our studies outlined here, we found that, before biofilm disassembly, Bacillus subtilis produced a factor that prevented biofilm formation and could break down existing biofilms. The factor was shown to be a mixture of d-leucine, d-methionine, d-tyrosine, and d-tryptophan that could act at nanomolar concentrations. d-Amino acid treatment caused the release of amyloid fibers that linked cells in the biofilm together. Mutants able to form biofilms in the presence of d-Amino acids contained alterations in a protein (YqxM) required for the formation and anchoring of the fibers to the cell. d-Amino acids also prevented biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. d-amino acids are produced by many bacteria and, thus, may be a widespread signal for biofilm disassembly.

Subfields: Biochemistry, Ecology, Food Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d852f3d04e2f98907b63c8776b251943c617cc9d

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. H. Flemming
2. Maria Kostakioti
3. Carol A. Gross
4. M. Hadjifrangiskou
5. S. Hultgren

In Food Science

1. H. Flemming

Citations in the corpus

• Bacterial Biofilms: Development, Dispersal, and Therapeutic Strategies in the Dawn of the Postantibiotic Era (2013, background): “Given that D-amino acids are produced by many bacterial species, they may provide a general strategy for biofilm disassembly (Kolodkin-Gal et al. 2010) and thus might be useful in medical and industrial antibiofilm applications.”
• Microbial Biofouling: Unsolved Problems, Insufficient Approaches, and Possible Solutions (2011, background): “In another very recent publication, Kolodkin-Gal et al.(2010) reported biofilm disassembly in B. subtilis, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus by a mixture of D-amino acids, releasing amyloid fibers that linked the cells together.”
• From the regulation of peptidoglycan synthesis to bacterial growth and morphology (2011, background): “aeruginosa , but the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes have yet to be elucidate”
• Resistance of bacterial biofilms to disinfectants: a review (2011, background): “Recently, D-amino acids were shown to prevent and break down Bacillus subtilis biofilms by interfering with the integrity of the EPS matrix (Kolodkin-Gal et al. 2010).”