title: An improved protocol for harvesting Bacillus subtilis colony biofilms.
abstract: Bacterial biofilms cause severe problems in medicine and industry due to the high resistance to disinfectants and environmental stress of organisms within biofilms. Addressing challenges caused by biofilms requires full understanding of the underlying mechanisms for bacterial resistance and survival in biofilms. However, such work is hampered by a relative lack of systems for biofilm cultivation that are practical and reproducible. To address this problem, we developed a readily applicable method to culture Bacillus subtilis biofilms on a membrane filter. The method results in biofilms with highly reproducible characteristics, and which can be readily analyzed by a variety of methods with little further manipulation. This biofilm preparation method simplifies routine generation of B. subtilis biofilms for molecular and cellular analysis, and could be applicable to other microbial systems.
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR e.V.), Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Department, Space Microbiology Research Group, Linder Hoehe, Cologne (Köln), NRW, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix Matthias
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Loyola University Chicago, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Infectious Disease and Immunology Research Institute, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Driks
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut Health Center, Department of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, Farmington, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Setlow
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR e.V.), Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Department, Space Microbiology Research Group, Linder Hoehe, Cologne (Köln), NRW, Germany. Electronic address: ralf.moeller@dlr.de.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moeller
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000502:physiology*; D058491:Bacterial Load; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D005374:Filtration; D013171:Spores, Bacterial
keywords: Bacillus subtilis; Biofilm; Membrane filter; Quantification; Reproducibility; Spores