Extracellular Nucleic Acids
Extracellular nucleic acids have recently emerged as important players in the fields of biology and the medical sciences. In the last several years, extracellular nucleic acids have been shown to be involved in not only microbial evolution as genetic elem
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Extracellular DNA as Matrix Component in Microbial Biofilms Wen-Chi Chiang and Tim Tolker-Nielsen
Contents 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.2 Extracellular DNA as Matrix Component in P. aeruginosa Biofilm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.3 Extracellular DNA as Matrix Component in Streptococcal Biofilm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.4 Extracellular DNA as Matrix Component in Staphylococcal Biofilm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.5 Final Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Abstract Bacteria in nature primarily live in surface-associated communities commonly known as biofilms. Because bacteria in biofilms, in many cases, display tolerance to host immune systems, antibiotics, and biocides, they are often difficult or impossible to eradicate. Biofilm formation, therefore, leads to various persistent infections in humans and animals, and to a variety of complications in industry, where solid–water interfaces occur. Knowledge about the molecular mechanisms involved in biofilm formation is necessary for creating strategies to control biofilms. Recent studies have shown that extracellular DNA is an important component of the extracellular matrix of microbial biofilms. The present chapter is focussed on extracellular DNA as matrix component in biofilms formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa as an example from the Gram-negative bacteria, and Streptococcus and Staphylococcus as examples from the Gram-positive bacteria. Besides the role of extracellular DNA in biofilm formation, the mechanisms involved in DNA release from P. aeruginosa, Streptococcus, and Staphylococcus are addressed.
W-C. Chiang and T. Tolker-Nielsen (*) Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark e-mail: [email protected]
Y. Kikuchi and E. Rykova (eds.), Extracellular Nucleic Acids, Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology 25, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-12617-8_1, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
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W.-C. Chiang and T. Tolker-Nielsen
Introduction
Although the growth of bacteria in planktonic culture has been the mainstay of microbiological technique from the time of Pasteur to the present, and has provided an increasingly accurate understanding of prokaryotic physiology and genetics, it is now clear that bacteria in nature primarily live in surface-associated biofilm communities. Biofilm formation is believed to occur in a sequential process of (1) transport of microbes to a surface, (2) initial attachment, (3) formation of microcolonies, and (4) fu
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