Variation of the adhesion to polystyrene of phenotypic mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 during starvation conditions.

The aim of this work was to analyse the effects of different growth conditions (phosphate and contemporary carbon-phosphate starvation) on polystyrene adhesion of a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and its four phenotypic mutants during experimental growth in starvation conditions. Bacterial adhesion was measured at 20, 40, 60 and 720 min. Data obtained showed that growth conditions are an important factor for the capacity of initial adhesion to inanimate surfaces. The analyses of adhesion of two phenotypic mutants (Mut-P-01 and Mut-P-02) isolated during growth on phosphate starvation is interesting. This kind of experiment yields important information on the prevention of nosocomial infections.