Journal article
Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
NPJ biofilms and microbiomes, v 3(1), pp 4-9
09 Feb 2017
PMID: 28649405
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Clay minerals and metal oxides, as important parts of the soil matrix, play crucial roles in the development of microbial communities. However, the mechanism underlying such a process, particularly on the formation of soil biofilm, remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of montmorillonite, kaolinite, and goethite on the biofilm formation of the representative soil bacteria Bacillus subtilis. The bacterial biofilm formation in goethite was found to be impaired in the initial 24 h but burst at 48 h in the liquid-air interface. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that the biofilm biomass in goethite was 3-16 times that of the control, montmorillonite, and kaolinite at 48 h. Live/Dead staining showed that cells had the highest death rate of 60% after 4 h of contact with goethite, followed by kaolinite and montmorillonite. Atomic force microscopy showed that the interaction between goethite and bacteria may injure bacterial cells by puncturing cell wall, leading to the swarming of bacteria toward the liquid-air interface. Additionally, the expressions of abrB and sinR, key players in regulating the biofilm formation, were upregulated at 24 h and downregulated at 48 h in goethite, indicating the initial adaptation of the cells to minerals. A model was proposed to describe the effects of goethite on the biofilm formation. Our findings may facilitate a better understanding of the roles of soil clays in biofilm development and the manipulation of bacterial compositions through controlling the biofilm in soils.
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Details
- Title
- Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
- Creators
- Wenting Ma - Huazhong Agricultural UniversityDonghai Peng - Huazhong Agricultural UniversitySharon L. Walker - University of California, RiversideBin Cao - Nanyang Technological UniversityChun-Hui Gao - Huazhong Agr Univ, Coll Resources & Environm, State Key Lab Agr Microbiol, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, Peoples R ChinaQiaoyun Huang - Huazhong Agricultural UniversityPeng Cai - Huazhong Agricultural University
- Publication Details
- NPJ biofilms and microbiomes, v 3(1), pp 4-9
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- 41522106 / National Natural Science Foundation of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 2016YFD0800206 / National Key Research Program of China 2015CB150504 / National Basic Research Program of China
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000412920700001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85040834784
- Other Identifier
- 991021229895004721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
- Microbiology