Synergistic Interactions within a Multispecies Biofilm Enhance Individual Species Protection against Grazing by a Pelagic Protozoan.

ABSTRACT: Biofilm formation has been shown to confer protection against grazing, but little information is available on the effect of grazing on biofilm formation and protection in multispecies consortia. With most biofilms in nature being composed of multiple bacterial species, the interactions and dynamics of a multispecies bacterial biofilm subject to grazing by a pelagic protozoan predator were investigated. To this end, a mono and multispecies biofilms of four bacterial soil isolates, namely Xanthomonas retroflexus, Stenotrophomonas rhizophila, Microbacterium oxydans and Paenibacillus amylolyticus, were constructed and subjected to grazing by the ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis. In monocultures, grazing strongly reduced planktonic cell numbers in P. amylolyticus and <

SUBMITTER: Raghupathi PK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5767253 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature