Imaging flow cytometry reveals a dual role for exopolysaccharides in biofilms: To promote self-adhesion while repelling non-self-community members.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Maan H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8666610 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The oral cavity contains a rich consortium of exopolysaccharide-producing microbes. These extracellular polysaccharides comprise a major component of the oral biofilm. Together with extracellular proteins, DNA, and lipids, they form the biofilm matrix, which contributes to bacterial colonization, biofilm formation and maintenance, and pathogenesis. While a number of oral microbes have been studied in detail with regard to biofilm formation and pathogenesis, the exopolysaccharides have been well characterized for only select organisms, namely Streptococcus mutans and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. Studies on the exopolysaccharides of other oral organisms, however, are in their infancy. In this review, we present the current research on exopolysaccharides of oral microbes regarding their biosynthesis, regulation, contributions to biofilm formation and stability of the matrix, and immune evasion. In addition, insight into the role of exopolysaccharides in biofilms is highlighted through the evaluation of emerging techniques such as pH probing of biofilm colonies, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance for macromolecular interactions within biofilms, and super-resolution microscopy analysis of biofilm development. Finally, exopolysaccharide as a potential nutrient source for species within a biofilm is discussed.
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Project description:BackgroundExopolysaccharides (EPS) secreted by beneficial lactobacilli exert a plethora of positive activities, but little is known about their effects on biofilms of opportunistic vaginal pathogens and especially on biofilms of lactobacilli themselves. Here, the EPS produced by six vaginal lactobacilli, belonging to Lactobacillus crispatus (BC1, BC4, BC5) and Lactobacillus gasseri (BC9, BC12, BC14) species were isolated from cultural supernatants and lyophilized.ResultsLactobacillus EPS were chemically characterized in terms of monosaccharide composition by liquid chromatography (LC) analysis coupled to UV and mass spectrometry (MS) detection. Moreover, the ability of EPS (0.1, 0.5, 1 mg/mL) to stimulate the biofilm formation of lactobacilli and to inhibit the formation of pathogens' biofilms was evaluated by crystal violet (CV) staining and 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Isolated EPS (yields 133-426 mg/L) were heteropolysaccharides mainly composed of D-mannose (40-52%) and D-glucose (11-30%). For the first time we demonstrated that Lactobacillus EPS were able to stimulate in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05) the formation of biofilms of ten strains belonging to L. crispatus, L. gasseri and Limosilactobacillus vaginalis species, in terms of cell viability (84-282% increase at 1 mg/mL) and especially biofilm biomass (40-195% increase at 1 mg/mL), quantified with MTT assay and CV staining, respectively. EPS released from L. crispatus and L. gasseri were found to better stimulate the biofilms of the same producer species rather than that of other species, including producing strains themselves and other strains. Conversely, the biofilm formation of bacterial (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp., Enterococcus spp. and Streptococcus agalactiae) and fungal (Candida spp.) pathogens was inhibited. The anti-biofilm activity was dose-dependent and was more marked for L. gasseri-derived EPS (inhibition up to 86%, 70%, and 58% at 1 mg/mL, 0.5 mg/mL, and 0.1 mg/mL, respectively), whilst L. crispatus-derived EPS resulted overall less efficient (inhibition up to 58% at 1 mg/mL and 40% at 0.5 mg/mL) (p < 0.05).ConclusionsLactobacilli-derived EPS favour the biofilm formation of lactobacilli preventing, at the same time, that of opportunistic pathogens. These results support the possible employment of EPS as postbiotics in medicine as a therapeutic/preventive strategy to counteract vaginal infections.
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