title: The influence of cell and substratum surface hydrophobicities on microbial attachment.
abstract: This study investigated the role of hydrophobic/hydrophilic interaction between bacterial and support surfaces in microbial adhesion, and a model that correlates microbial adhesion and relative cell-hydrophobicity defined as the ratio of cell-support surface hydrophobicity over cell-support hydrophilicity was derived. This model quantitatively describes how cell hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions affect microbial adhesion, and offers deep insights into the thermodynamic mechanisms of microbial adhesion. The proposed model was verified by literature data. It appears that a high cell-hydrophobicity strongly facilitates microbial adhesion on both hydrophobic and hydrophilic support surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore. cyliu@ntu.edu.sg
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shu-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Joo-Hwa
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tay
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D018914:Cells, Immobilized; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008954:Models, Biological; D013379:Substrate Specificity / Q000502:physiology*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics