Physiology and behavior of Pseudomonas fluorescens single and dual strain biofilms under diverse hydrodynamics stresses

Abstract

Three selected Pseudomonas fluorescens strains (the type strain and two strains originally isolated from a dairy processing plant—D3-348 and D3-350)were used to form turbulent and laminar flow-generated biofilms under laboratorial conditions using flowcell reactors with stainless steel substrata. TheD3-348 and D3-350 strainswere also used to form dual biofilms. Biofilm phenotypic characteristics, such as respiratory activity, total and culturable cells, biomass, total and matrix proteins and polysaccharides were compared. Biofilm mechanical stability, as amajor feature involved in biofilm persistence, was also assessed using a rotating device system. The results indicate that hydrodynamic conditions have a remarkable impact on biofilm phenotype. Turbulent biofilmsweremore active, hadmoremass per adhesion surface area, a higher number of total and culturable cells, a higher amount of total proteins per gramof biofilm, similar matrix proteins and identical (D3-348 and D3-350 single and dual biofilms) or smaller (type strain) total and matrix polysaccharides content than their laminar counterparts. Biofilms formed by the type strain revealed a considerable higher amount of total and culturable cells and a higher amount of total proteins (turbulent biofilms) and total andmatrix polysaccharides per gramof biofilm than single and dual biofilms formed by the other strains. Mechanical stability assays disclosed that biofilms formed by both type and D3-348 strains had the highest resistance to removal when exposed to mechanical stress. Dual strain biofilms population analysis revealed an apparent co-existence, evidencing neutral interactions. The overall results provided useful information regarding a broad spectrum of P. fluorescens biofilm phenotypic parameters, which can contribute to control and model biofilm processes in food industry.