Bacterial Biofilm in Water Bodies of Cherrapunjee: The Rainiest Place on Planet Earth

Subhro Banerjee, Sudha Rai, Barnali Sarma, Santa Ram Joshi

Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India.

DOI: 10.4236/aim.2012.24060                

Abstract

Bacterial attachment is influenced by the cell surface, attachment media and other environmental factors. Bacterial community composition involved in biofilm formation in extremely high rainfall areas like Cherrapunjee has not been reported. The present study was undertaken to characterize bacteria involved in biofilm formation on different substrata in water bodies of Cherrapunjee, the highest rainfall receiving place on planet earth and to assess if the continuous rainfall has an effect on nature and colonization of biofilm bacteria. We developed the biofilm bacteria on stainless steel and glass surfaces immersed in water bodies of the study sites. Isolation of biofilm bacteria were performed on different culture media followed by estimation of protein and carbohydrate content of bacterial exopolysaccharides. 16S rRNA gene sequences were amplified for molecular characterization. The results showed that the biofilm bacterial diversity in water bodies of Cherrapunjee was influenced by substratum and was observed more in stainless steel than glass surface. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed that biofilm microstructure may represent a key determinant of biofilm growth and physiology of associated bacteria. The overall protein content of the extracted EPS of all the isolates were relatively higher than the carbohydrate content. Diverse bacteria proliferated on the substrata regardless of each other's presence, with more diverse bacteria colonizing the substrata on 7^th day compared to 15^th day of incubation. The biofilm bacteria compositions in the highest rainfall receiving habitat were not distinctly different from reports available, hence not unique from other water bodies.

Keywords

Cherrapunjee; Rainiest Place; Water Bodies; Bacterial; Biofilm; 16S rDNA; EPS

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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