title: Laboratory grown subaerial biofilms on granite: application to the study of bioreceptivity.
abstract: Simulated environmental colonisation of granite was induced under laboratory conditions in order to develop an experimental protocol for studying bioreceptivity. The experimental set-up proved suitable for producing subaerial biofilms by inoculating granite blocks with planktonic multi-species phototrophic cultures derived from natural biofilms. The ability of four different cultures to form biofilms was monitored over a three-month growth period via colour measurements, quantification of photosynthetic pigments and EPS, and CLSM observations. One of the cultures under study, which comprised several taxa including Bryophyta, Charophyta, Chlorophyta and Cyanobacteria, was particularly suitable as an inoculum, mainly because of its microbial richness, its rapid adaptability to the substratum and its high colonisation capacity. The use of this culture as an inoculum in the proposed experimental set-up to produce subaerial biofilms under laboratory conditions will contribute to standardising the protocols involved, thus enabling more objective assessment of the bioreceptivity of granite in further experiments.
authors.affiliation: a Facultade de Farmacia, Departamento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola , Universidade de Santiago de Compostela , Santiago de Compostela , Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Nion
authors.affiliation: a Facultade de Farmacia, Departamento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola , Universidade de Santiago de Compostela , Santiago de Compostela , Spain.
authors.forename: Benita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: b Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti, la Nutrizione e l'Ambiente , Università degli Studi di Milano , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Troiano
authors.affiliation: a Facultade de Farmacia, Departamento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola , Universidade de Santiago de Compostela , Santiago de Compostela , Spain.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Prieto
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D003124:Colorimetry; D003252:Construction Materials / Q000382:microbiology*; D059013:Microbial Consortia / Q000502:physiology; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008954:Models, Biological; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000032:analysis; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D013053:Spectrophotometry
chemical_list: D010860:Pigments, Biological; C007886:granite; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Bioreceptivity; granite; multi-species phototrophic culture; subaerial biofilm