1887

Abstract

and often co-exist as mixed biofilms in the lungs of patients suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). Here, the isolation of random mini-Tn insertion mutants of H111 defective in biofilm formation on an abiotic surface is reported. It is demonstrated that one of these mutants no longer produces -acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) due to an inactivation of the gene. and the AHL synthase gene together constitute the quorum-sensing system of . By using a gene replacement method, two defined mutants, H111-I and H111-R, were constructed in which and , respectively, had been inactivated. These mutants were used to demonstrate that biofilm formation by H111 requires a functional quorum-sensing system. A detailed quantitative analysis of the biofilm structures formed by wild-type and mutant strains suggested that the quorum-sensing system is not involved in the regulation of initial cell attachment, but rather controls the maturation of the biofilm. Furthermore, it is shown that is capable of swarming motility, a form of surface translocation utilized by various bacteria to rapidly colonize appropriate substrata. Evidence is provided that swarming motility of is quorum-sensing-regulated, possibly through the control of biosurfactant production. Complementation of the mutant H111-R with different biosurfactants restored swarming motility while biofilm formation was not significantly increased. This result suggests that swarming motility is not essential for biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces.

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2001-09-01
2024-03-28
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