Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides

Clay minerals and metal oxides, as important parts of the soil matrix, play crucial roles in the development of microbial communities. However, the mechanism underlying such a process, particularly on the formation of soil biofilm, remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of mont...

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Main Authors: Ma, Wenting, Peng, Donghai, Walker, Sharon L., Cao, Bin, Gao, Chun-Hui, Huang, Qiaoyun, Cai, Peng
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90187
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47195
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-901872020-03-07T11:43:39Z Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides Ma, Wenting Peng, Donghai Walker, Sharon L. Cao, Bin Gao, Chun-Hui Huang, Qiaoyun Cai, Peng School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Bacillus Subtilis Biofilm Formation DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering Clay minerals and metal oxides, as important parts of the soil matrix, play crucial roles in the development of microbial communities. However, the mechanism underlying such a process, particularly on the formation of soil biofilm, remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of montmorillonite, kaolinite, and goethite on the biofilm formation of the representative soil bacteria Bacillus subtilis. The bacterial biofilm formation in goethite was found to be impaired in the initial 24 h but burst at 48 h in the liquid–air interface. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that the biofilm biomass in goethite was 3–16 times that of the control, montmorillonite, and kaolinite at 48 h. Live/Dead staining showed that cells had the highest death rate of 60% after 4 h of contact with goethite, followed by kaolinite and montmorillonite. Atomic force microscopy showed that the interaction between goethite and bacteria may injure bacterial cells by puncturing cell wall, leading to the swarming of bacteria toward the liquid–air interface. Additionally, the expressions of abrB and sinR, key players in regulating the biofilm formation, were upregulated at 24 h and downregulated at 48 h in goethite, indicating the initial adaptation of the cells to minerals. A model was proposed to describe the effects of goethite on the biofilm formation. Our findings may facilitate a better understanding of the roles of soil clays in biofilm development and the manipulation of bacterial compositions through controlling the biofilm in soils. Published version 2018-12-26T03:39:35Z 2019-12-06T17:42:39Z 2018-12-26T03:39:35Z 2019-12-06T17:42:39Z 2017 Journal Article Ma, W., Peng, D., Walker, S. L., Cao, B., Gao, C.-H., Huang, Q., & Cai, P. (2017). Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 3(1), 4-. doi:10.1038/s41522-017-0013-6 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90187 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47195 10.1038/s41522-017-0013-6 en npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 9 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Bacillus Subtilis
Biofilm Formation
DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
spellingShingle Bacillus Subtilis
Biofilm Formation
DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
Ma, Wenting
Peng, Donghai
Walker, Sharon L.
Cao, Bin
Gao, Chun-Hui
Huang, Qiaoyun
Cai, Peng
Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
description Clay minerals and metal oxides, as important parts of the soil matrix, play crucial roles in the development of microbial communities. However, the mechanism underlying such a process, particularly on the formation of soil biofilm, remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of montmorillonite, kaolinite, and goethite on the biofilm formation of the representative soil bacteria Bacillus subtilis. The bacterial biofilm formation in goethite was found to be impaired in the initial 24 h but burst at 48 h in the liquid–air interface. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that the biofilm biomass in goethite was 3–16 times that of the control, montmorillonite, and kaolinite at 48 h. Live/Dead staining showed that cells had the highest death rate of 60% after 4 h of contact with goethite, followed by kaolinite and montmorillonite. Atomic force microscopy showed that the interaction between goethite and bacteria may injure bacterial cells by puncturing cell wall, leading to the swarming of bacteria toward the liquid–air interface. Additionally, the expressions of abrB and sinR, key players in regulating the biofilm formation, were upregulated at 24 h and downregulated at 48 h in goethite, indicating the initial adaptation of the cells to minerals. A model was proposed to describe the effects of goethite on the biofilm formation. Our findings may facilitate a better understanding of the roles of soil clays in biofilm development and the manipulation of bacterial compositions through controlling the biofilm in soils.
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Ma, Wenting
Peng, Donghai
Walker, Sharon L.
Cao, Bin
Gao, Chun-Hui
Huang, Qiaoyun
Cai, Peng
format Article
author Ma, Wenting
Peng, Donghai
Walker, Sharon L.
Cao, Bin
Gao, Chun-Hui
Huang, Qiaoyun
Cai, Peng
author_sort Ma, Wenting
title Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
title_short Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
title_full Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
title_fullStr Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
title_full_unstemmed Bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
title_sort bacillus subtilis biofilm development in the presence of soil clay minerals and iron oxides
publishDate 2018
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90187
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47195
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