Microbial cells sense and respond to their environment using their surface constituents. Therefore, understanding the assembly and biophysical properties of cell surface molecules is an important research topic. With its ability to observe living microbial cells at nanometer resolution and to manipulate single-cell surface molecules, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has emerged as a powerful tool ...

Microbial mass can be said to occur in one of two states; as 'flocs' frcely suspended in an aqueous medium, or as a 'film' adhering to a support surface. Industrial fermenter configurations, at least since the development of deep-tank fermentation, have almost invariably been based on the use of microbial flocs, and the occurrence of a visible microbial film during fermentation is generally avo...

In the food industry, microbial adhesion to equipment surfaces and subsequent development of biofilm are very serious issues because of potential to cause cross-contamination, which leads to lowered shelf-life, food spoilage, and transmission of disease [1-4]. Adhesion and subsequent growth on surfaces is a common strategy of bacteria for survival in both natural habitats and man-made environme...

Microbial adhesion at the oil-water interface is a subject of both basic interest (e.g., as a technique for the measurement of hydrophobicity) and applied interest (e.g., for use in two-phase oil-water mouthwashes for the desorption of oral microorganisms). In general, surfactants inhibit microbial adhesion to oils and other hydrophobic surfaces. In the present study, we demonstrated that the c...

Environmental transitions often result in resource mixtures that overcome limitations to microbial metabolism, resulting in biogeochemical hotspots and moments. Riverine systems, where groundwater mixes with surface water (the hyporheic zone), are spatially complex and temporally dynamic, making development of predictive models challenging. Spatial and temporal variations in hyporheic zone micr...

Biofilm is an assemblage of the microbial cells that is irreversibly associated with a surface and usually enclosed in a matrix of polysaccharide material. Biofilm is composed primarily of microbial cells and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Extracellular polymeric matrix plays various roles in structure and function of different biofilm communities. Adhesion to the surface provides con...

Microbe-host interactions are complex processes that are directly and indirectly regulated by a variety of factors, including microbe presentation of specific molecular signatures on the microbial surface, as well as host cell presentation of receptors that recognize these pathogen signatures. Cell surface glycans are one important class of microbial signatures that are recognized by a variety ...

Fluid inclusions in evaporite minerals (halite, gypsum, etc.) potentially preserve genetic records of microbial diversity and changing environmental conditions of Earth's hydrosphere for nearly one billion years. Here we describe a robust protocol for surface sterilization and retrieval of DNA from fluid inclusions in halite that, unlike previously published methods, guarantees removal of poten...

Elaboration of an assessment method for plumbing materials contacting drinking water was the main purpose of this study. The investigation was conducted in 8 week cycles in dynamic conditions using a continuous flow reactor. Microbial growth was measured indirectly by a bioluminescence technique (ATP assay). Every week swabs from the surface of tested materials (polypropylene and different type...