Forging biofilms: metal-induced microbial responses in biofilm formation

Overview

This Journal of Bacteriology minireview by Sarah Price and Eric Skaar (Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Center for Infection and Immunity) covers the mechanistic role of metal availability in bacterial biofilm formation and dynamics. Biofilms are major contributors to antibiotic resistance and to persistence in hospital environments; the authors show that metals are involved at multiple stages of biofilm biology including initial regulation of biofilm formation, communication and competition among bacteria within polymicrobial biofilms, and structural integrity and adherence of bacterial cells in the biofilm matrix. The review documents both biofilm-promoting and biofilm-disrupting metal effects and the use of metal sequestration by some bacteria to deprive neighboring microbes within the biofilm community.

Key conclusions

Metals act as biofilm regulators at three levels: induction (specific metals signal the planktonic-to-biofilm transition for several pathogens), structure (metal-bound matrix components contribute to biofilm mechanical integrity and adherence), and competition (metal sequestration by some biofilm members deprives others of essential nutrients, shaping the community). Metal-induced biofilm formation is a candidate target for anti-biofilm intervention strategies; understanding metal-driven biofilm dynamics has implications for chronic infection management and for medical-device-associated infection control.

Implications

• Certification: Background context for why metal exposure perturbs polymicrobial communities including the gut microbiome. Biofilms are not strictly the focus of food-safety certification, but the metal-driven community-competition mechanism is one mechanism by which dietary heavy metals modulate microbiota.
• Microbiome: Crosswalks to WikiBiome for biofilm-and-metals topics. Companion to Chandrangsu 2017 for the bacterial-metal-physiology layer.
• Courses: Useful for teaching biofilm-and-pathogenesis topics at the metallobiology intersection.

Wiki pages updated on ingest

• Nickel
• metals-biofilm-axis

Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.