Bacterial Cell Surface Heterogeneity: A Pathogen's Disguise
نویسندگان
چکیده
All interactions of microorganisms with their environment are surface phenomena, and therewith involve the properties of the microbial cell surface [1] and its possible disguise or hidden identity by an altered appearance. Since appearance is what one initially sees upon first encounter, a disguise always refers to surface properties, like cloths for people and hydrophobicity or charge for microorganisms. Antimicrobials, for instance, first have to approach an organism and interact with its cell surface before they can become effective. Hydrophobic lactobacilli with a mean water contact angle of 66 degrees were found to be susceptible to nonoxynol-9 (a non-ionic spermicide) and vancomycin, whereas hydrophilic strains with a mean water contact angle of 32 degrees were resistant [2]. Analogously, cationic polyquaternium-1 was only effective against more negatively charged Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains with an isoelectric-point (pH where the bacterial zeta potential is zero) ranging from 1.3 to 1.9, whereas more positively charged strains with an isoelectric-point between 4.0 and 5.5 were resistant [3]. Also Nagant et al. [4] noticed that more negatively charged P. aeruginosa strains were more sensitive to a cationic antimicrobial, inhibiting biofilm formation. These examples show that if a microorganism, or part of the population it belongs to, is able to change surface properties, this will allow the organisms to evade environmental attacks. Moreover, since adhesion to substratum surfaces depends on the properties of the interacting surfaces [5], the ability of an organism to produce clones with different surface properties will allow a strain to adhere to different surfaces, which may be considered a survival mechanism [6]. Clearly, these are beneficial traits for pathogenic organisms.
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