A simple method for growing pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms on a hydrophobic polystyrene surface

© 2018 EUROSIS-ETI. When bacteria are on surfaces they grow as biofilms. This means that bacteria start to produce several substances and they grow embedded in the composed Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPSs) matrix. This work aims to develop a protocol to grow a reproducible biofilm. Reproducibility in this case refers to the same number of cells and same quantity of biofilm (biomass). Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms are grown on a polystyrene (PS) surface as a drop spread on a well delimited area. The biofilm is characterised by using the crystal violet (CV) assay and the viable cell count method. The first experiments aim to determine the favourable ratio between the volume and the area on which the biofilm is spread. Moreover, the effect of the inoculum concentration and also the effect of different growth medium concentrations on biofilm growth are investigated. Cell growth dynamics is fitted with the Baranyi and Roberts (1994) primary model. The maximum cell density of a biofilm grown for 24 h at 25°C, the specific growth rate and the lag phase duration are determined. Obtaining a reproducible biofilm allows to proceed with studying innovative biofilm inactivation technologies, e.g., light treatment.

ISBN:9789492859013

Publication year:2018