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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Biofilm matrix cloaks bacterial quorum sensing chemoattractants from predator detection
ClearQuorum Sensing Regulates Bacterial Processes That Play a Major Role in Marine Biogeochemical Cycles
This review synthesizes knowledge of quorum sensing in marine bacteria, examining how cell-to-cell chemical communication coordinates bacterial behaviors including biofilm formation, bioluminescence, and organic matter cycling that drive marine biogeochemical processes. The authors identify quorum sensing disruption as an understudied consequence of chemical pollution, with potential to alter nutrient cycling in ocean ecosystems.
Metagenomic insights into taxonomic, functional diversity and inhibitors of microbial biofilms
This review examines the structure, diversity, and quorum-sensing mechanisms of microbial biofilms, highlighting metagenomic approaches for understanding how biofilms promote antibiotic resistance and pathogen spread in hospitals and industrial settings.
Differing Escape Responses of the Marine Bacterium Marinobacter adhaerens in the Presence of Planktonic vs. Surface-Associated Protist Grazers
Researchers found that the marine bacterium Marinobacter adhaerens uses different escape strategies depending on whether predatory protists are free-swimming or surface-attached, suggesting bacteria exploit surface habitats as a refuge from planktonic grazers, with implications for understanding microbial loop dynamics.
Quorum sensing bacteria in microplastics epiphytic biofilms and their biological characteristics which potentially impact marine ecosystem
Researchers collected microplastics from the ocean and characterised the quorum-sensing bacteria living in their biofilms — microbes that communicate chemically to coordinate group behaviours like biofilm formation and antibiotic production. Eight different quorum-sensing bacterial strains were isolated from polypropylene and PVC microplastics, and their signalling molecules (AHLs) were profiled. The findings show that microplastics act as rafts dispersing complex microbial communities, including potentially harmful antibiotic-producing and biofilm-forming bacteria, across the global ocean.
Quorum Sensing: Not Just a Bridge Between Bacteria
This review covers quorum sensing -- the chemical communication system bacteria use to coordinate group behavior -- and how it can be disrupted to fight infections and prevent harmful biofilm formation. The paper notes that microplastics are among the materials being explored to modulate these bacterial communication systems, which is relevant because bacteria colonizing microplastic surfaces in the environment may use quorum sensing to form biofilms that affect ecosystems and human health.
Investigating Biofilms: Advanced Methods for Comprehending Microbial Behavior and Antibiotic Resistance
This review summarizes recent advances in biofilm research, focusing on how communities of microorganisms form protective layers on surfaces and become resistant to antibiotics. The sticky matrix that holds biofilms together plays a key role in spreading antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria. While not directly about microplastics, the findings are relevant because microplastics in the environment serve as surfaces where these resistant biofilms can form and spread.
Identification of quorum sensing-regulated Vibrio fortis as potential pathogenic bacteria for coral bleaching and the effects on the microbial shift
Researchers identified a species of Vibrio bacteria regulated by quorum sensing that can cause coral bleaching when it infects reef corals. Infection led to significant shifts in the coral's microbial community, disrupting the balance of beneficial symbionts. The study suggests that bacterial pathogens driven by coastal pollution may play a key role in coral reef degradation.
Bacterivorous nematodes decipher microbial iron siderophores as prey cue in predator–prey interactions
Researchers discovered that bacterivorous nematodes can detect iron-scavenging siderophores released by bacteria and use them as chemical cues to locate prey. The study identified a specific chemosensory receptor in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans responsible for detecting the bacterial siderophore pyoverdine, revealing a previously unknown predator-prey interaction mechanism in soil ecosystems.
Anti-Biofilm Activity of Chlorogenic Acid against Pseudomonas Using Quorum Sensing System
Researchers investigated the antibiofilm activity of chlorogenic acid against Pseudomonas in drinking water, finding it inhibited biofilm formation in a dose-dependent manner and altered biofilm structure and metabolite composition. Chlorogenic acid shows potential as a natural compound for controlling waterborne bacterial biofilms.
Nanoplastics induce prophage activation and quorum sensing to enhance biofilm mechanical and chemical resilience
Researchers found that polystyrene nanoplastics at environmentally relevant concentrations promote the formation of more resilient bacterial biofilms by triggering viral activation and cell-to-cell communication within microbial communities. The nanoplastics caused oxidative stress that activated dormant viruses within bacteria, which in turn stimulated protective biofilm production with enhanced resistance to chlorine disinfection. The findings suggest that nanoplastic pollution could make harmful bacterial communities in water systems harder to eliminate through standard treatment methods.
Toxicity and disruption of quorum sensing in Aliivibrio fisheri by environmental chemicals: Impacts of selected contaminants and microplastics
Researchers examined the effects of copper, gadolinium, silver nanoparticles, and polyethylene microplastic beads on quorum sensing in the marine bacterium Aliivibrio fisheri, finding that both dissolved and particulate compounds can disrupt bioluminescence-based quorum signalling.
[Applications of biofilm in environmental pollution control and the related challenges].
This review examines biofilm structure, formation mechanisms, and community composition as applied to environmental pollution control, covering removal of heavy metals and organic pollutants, and discussing emerging challenges including plastisphere dynamics, antibiotic resistance gene spread, and pathogen accumulation in biofilm-pollutant interactions.
Flexible habitat choice of pelagic bacteria increases system stability and energy flow through the microbial loop
Researchers found that pelagic bacteria capable of switching between free-living and particle-attached lifestyles enhanced ecosystem stability and energy flow through the microbial loop, with implications for how increasing artificial particle densities may reshape aquatic food webs.
Biochar-Enhanced Nitrogen Removal in SBBR Under PFOA Stress: The Role of Quorum Sensing
Researchers investigated how biochar addition improved nitrogen removal in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor under perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) stress, finding that biochar enhanced quorum sensing signaling that supported nitrification and denitrification communities under chemical stress conditions.
Biofilm-mediated bioremediation of xenobiotics and heavy metals: a comprehensive review of microbial ecology, molecular mechanisms, and emerging biotechnological applications
This review explores how bacterial biofilms can be used to break down environmental pollutants, including heavy metals, pesticides, oil spills, and microplastics. Researchers found that the unique structure of biofilms gives them superior pollutant-degrading abilities compared to free-floating bacteria, and new advances like CRISPR gene editing and nanoparticle integration are making them even more effective. The study suggests that biofilm-based approaches offer a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to tackle a wide range of contamination problems.
Mutual cross-feeding drives marine biofilm assembly on various carbon sources
This study found that marine biofilm communities assemble through mutual cross-feeding among bacteria growing on different carbon sources. Marine biofilms readily form on microplastic surfaces, and understanding how these communities assemble is important for predicting how plastics are colonized and potentially degraded in the ocean.
Production and characterisation of a marine Halomonas surface-active exopolymer
Researchers isolated a marine bacterium called Halomonas that produces a natural emulsifying compound capable of breaking down a wide range of oils and hydrocarbons, and found this compound also helped other bacteria degrade pollutants, making it a promising tool for cleaning up oil-contaminated marine environments without synthetic chemicals.
Adaptive resistance and defense evolution in microplastics-mediated biological exposure interfaces in municipal wastewater treatment systems
Researchers studied how microplastic surfaces in municipal wastewater treatment systems promote the development of antimicrobial resistance. The study found that PET, polyethylene, and polypropylene microplastics trigger quorum sensing-driven resistance evolution in microbial biofilms, enhancing the expression of genes related to extracellular polymeric substances and potentially contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Phylogenetic Constitution and Survival of Microbial Biofilms Formed on the Surface of Polyethylene Composites Protected with Polyguanidine Biocides
Researchers fabricated polyethylene composites containing immobilized polyguanidine biocides and tested their effectiveness against multispecies microbial biofilms reconstructed from environmental isolates. Polyguanidine biocide suppressed binary and multispecies biofilm growth with a cumulative effect over time, disrupting dense three-dimensional biofilm structures primarily during later formation stages, though cooperative interactions within binary biofilms reduced biocide effectiveness.
(micro)Plastic biofilms: Keeping afloat by carving out a new niche
This review examined how microplastics accumulate microbial biofilms, creating a distinct ecological niche with unique community composition and metabolic activities. The microplastic biofilm, or plastisphere, can harbor pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, raising concerns about plastic particles as vectors of biological hazards.
Biofilm formation and its implications on the properties and fate of microplastics in aquatic environments: A review
Researchers reviewed how microplastics in water attract and support communities of bacteria and other microorganisms that form biofilms — living coatings that alter the plastic particles' movement, help them carry pathogens, and affect how toxic chemicals attached to the plastic are absorbed by living things. Understanding this "plastisphere" ecosystem is critical for predicting where microplastics go and how harmful they become.
[Influence of Polystyrene Microplastics on the Formation and Structural Change of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm].
Laboratory experiments exposing Pseudomonas aeruginosa — a medically significant opportunistic pathogen — to polystyrene microplastics found that MPs inhibited biofilm formation, with smaller particles (0.1 µm) causing stronger inhibition by disrupting the quorum sensing communication system that bacteria use to coordinate behavior. Microplastics caused physical damage to bacterial cells and reduced the expression of virulence-related genes. These findings suggest that environmental microplastic contamination could alter the behavior of pathogenic bacteria in ways that are difficult to predict.
The Importance of Biofilms to the Fate and Effects of Microplastics
This review examines how biofilms — communities of microorganisms that form on microplastic surfaces — affect the fate and ecological effects of plastic pollution. Biofilm formation alters how microplastics are transported, ingested, and degraded in the environment, and the plastisphere can harbor pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria that may pose risks to human health.
Bacterial dynamics of the plastisphere microbiome exposed to sub-lethal antibiotic pollution.
This study investigated how sub-lethal antibiotic concentrations in water interact with microplastic-associated biofilm communities (the plastisphere), finding that combined pollution alters bacterial dynamics and may contribute to antibiotic resistance selection in aquatic environments.