Acidic pH strongly enhances in vitro biofilm formation by a subset of hypervirulent ST-17 Streptococcus agalactiae strains.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus agalactiae, also known as group B Streptococcus (GBS), is a primary colonizer of the anogenital mucosa of up to 40% of healthy women and an important cause of invasive neonatal infections worldwide. Among the 10 known capsular serotypes, GBS type III accounts for 30 to 76% of the cases of neonatal meningitis. In recent years, the ability of GBS to form biofilm attracted attention for its possible role in fitness and virulence. Here, a new in vitro biofilm formation protocol was developed to guarantee more stringent conditions, to better discriminate between strong-, low-, and non-biofilm-forming strains, and to facilitate interpretation of data. This protocol was used to screen the biofilm-forming abilities of 366 GBS clinical isolates from pregnant women and from neonatal in

SUBMITTER: D'Urzo N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3993151 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature