Title: A live bioprobe for studying diatom-surface interactions
Journal: Biophysical Journal
Authors: Fernando Teran Arcea, Recep Avcia, Iwona B. Beechb, Keith E. Cookseyc, and Barbara Wigglesworth-Cookseyc
Institute: a Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
b School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
c Department of Microbiology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
The original and creativity of paper: This paper reported the result of characterizing and comparing adhesion forces between extracellular polymers of live cell of marine fouling diatom of the Navicula genus and the mica as well as Intersleek in marine environment.
Summary:
- The adhesion process of microbial cell onto the surface is a phenomena which governed by environmental and physiological parameters.
- The composition and yield of these polymers were affected by diatom species and the growth stage of an interested diatom.
- Over the life cycle of a diatom cell, the initial stage of adhesion of diatom to the surface seems more involve the mobility and capsular polymers.
- Work of detachment value on mica is higher than Intersleek due to the involvement of chemically different extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) macromolecules.
- According to the force versus distance curves, the graph showed the presence of multiple unbinding forces at the separation distances. This confirms the evidence that EPS macromolecules varying in chemical composition and/or molecules with similar composition.
- EPS that produced by some bacteria facilitate the adhesion of the cell to hydrophobic surfaces (Intersleek), while exopolymers of other bacteria prefer hydrophilic surfaces (mica).
Application: The paper revealed that biological AFM with a live bioprobe can be applied to characterize the adhesion of cell onto the different surfaces. Also, this technique can be developed for the rapid assessment of diatom attachment to antifouling material. Moreover, the same technique can be modified and applied to other field of studies such as membrane for desalination.
By Monruedee Moonkhum
Email: moon@gist.ac.kr