Biofilm formation in Escherichia coli is affected by 3-(N-morpholino)propane sulfonate (MOPS).
In most natural environments, association with a surface in a structure known as a biofilm is the prevailing microbial life-style. Escherichia coli has been a useful model for the study of biofilm formation. Here we analyzed the amounts of biofilm formed when E. coli was cultured in the presence of MOPS [3-(N-morpholino)propane sulfonatel. We used the "O'Toole and Kolter" method, which consisted of growing cells in PVC microtiter dishes and staining the formed biofilm with crystal violet. Our results showed that: 1) the addition of 100 mM MOPS to the rich Luria-Bertani (LB) medium increased the capacity of biofilm formation of several E. coli strains; and 2) the biofilm formed by cells growing in the presence of MOPS was more evident and well defined than that of cells cultured in LB-only medium. The improved ability of forming biofilms was maintained even for 60 h after removing MOPS from the medium, indicating that this improvement was due to a change in the metabolism of E. coli growing in the presence of MOPS or that, under these conditions, biofilm formation was favored.
Corona-Izquierdo
F Paola
FP
Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.
Membrillo-Hernández
Jorge
J
D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects*; D003470:Culture Media; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D009025:Morpholines / Q000494:pharmacology*
D003470:Culture Media; D009025:Morpholines; C008550:morpholinopropane sulfonic acid