Nanoscale cell wall deformation impacts long-range bacterial adhesion forces on surfaces.

ABSTRACT: Adhesion of bacteria occurs on virtually all natural and synthetic surfaces and is crucial for their survival. Once they are adhering, bacteria start growing and form a biofilm, in which they are protected against environmental attacks. Bacterial adhesion to surfaces is mediated by a combination of different short- and long-range forces. Here we present a new atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based method to derive long-range bacterial adhesion forces from the dependence of bacterial adhesion forces on the loading force, as applied during the use of AFM. The long-range adhesion forces of wild-type Staphylococcus aureus parent strains (0.5 and 0.8 nN) amounted to only one-third of these forces measured for their more deformable isogenic Δpbp4 mutants that were deficient in peptidoglycan cross-l

SUBMITTER: Chen Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3911093 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature