Author(s)

Donna Ye¹, Lekha Bapu¹, Mariane Mota Cavalcante², Jesse Kato¹, Maggie Lauria Sneideman³, Kim Scribner⁴, Thomas Loch⁴, Terence L. Marsh^1*

¹Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
²Department of Biology, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, SP, Brazil.
³Department of Biology, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo MI, USA.
⁴Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.

A screening of environmental conditions that would elicit robust biofilm in a collection of Serratia marcescens isolated from soil revealed that exogenous milk protein increased biofilm productivity up to ten-fold. A select screening of fish pathogens, freshwater and human isolates identified several other species that responded similarly to exogenous protein. The optimal protein concentration was species specific; S. marcescens at 5% milk protein, Aeromonas sp. at 2% - 3%, Flavobacterium columnare at 1% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 0.1% - 0.4%. Media supplemented with milk protein also increased the cell counts in biofilm as well as the protein incorporated into the biofilm matrix. These data suggest that relatively high concentrations of exogenous protein may serve as an environmental trigger for biofilm formation, particularly for pathogenic bacteria exposed to relatively high concentrations of protein in bodily fluids and mucosal surfaces.

Biofilm, Environmental Stimulus, Exogenous Protein, Serratia marcescens, Aeromonas sp., Flavobacterium columnare

Ye, D. , Bapu, L. , Cavalcante, M. , Kato, J. , Sneideman, M. , Scribner, K. , Loch, T. and Marsh, T. (2020) Exogenous Protein as an Environmental Stimulus of Biofilm Formation in Select Bacterial Strains. Advances in Microbiology, 10, 123-144. doi: 10.4236/aim.2020.103011.