Evaluation of Morphological Changes of Aeromonas caviae Sch3 Biofilm Formation under Optimal Conditions

Erika Beatriz Angeles-Morales, Ricardo Mondragón-Flores, Juan Pedro Luna-Arias, Cinthia Teresa Enríquez-Nieto, Berenice Parra-Ortega, Graciela Castro-Escarpulli

Centro de Diagnóstico y Vigilancia Epidemiológica del Distrito Federal. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Distrito Federal, Mexico City, Mexico.
Departamento de Biología Celular, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav-IPN), Mexico City, Mexico.
Departamento de Bioquímica, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav-IPN), Mexico City, Mexico.
Laboratorio de Bacteriología, Departamento de Microbiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (ENCB-IPN), Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala s/n, Mexico City, Mexico.

DOI: 10.4236/aim.2012.24071                

Abstract

Aeromonas is a Gram-negative bacterium that lives in aquatic habitats. It can be infective in humans. One of its remarkable attributes is the ability of biofilm formation. Many factors are involved in the construction of biofilms as has been described for Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, and Vibrio, among others. The aim of this work was to study the bacterial morphology during the establishment of biofilm through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with a modified microtiter plate assay and to determine the best conditions for the establishment of Aeromonas caviae Sch3 biolfilm in vitro. We observed several phenotypic changes, including surface appearance, size, presence of extracellular vesicles from 100 to 250 nm in diameter, and flagella. The best conditions for biofilm formation were to grow cultures at 28℃ at pH 6, as determined by the crystal violet assay. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study that describes the cell’s biological events involved in the establishment of biofilm formation of Aeromonas caviae Sch3 in vitro.

Keywords

Biofilm; Aeromonas Caviae; Scanning Electron Microscopy; Transmission Electron Microscopy; Physical and Chemical Factors

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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