The interdependence of plasmids and biofilms: from fundamental to applied research

我们非常需要了解生物膜和基因转移之间的联系。生物膜是微生物及其产物、胞外聚合物(EPS)的聚集体，在自然和工程环境中都发挥着重要的作用。水平基因转移(HGT)是细胞间遗传信息的交换(编码在可移动的遗传元件上，如质粒)，对微生物群落的适应、进化和生态有重要贡献，可被认为是一种生物增强策略。这对于找到处理环境污染物的新方法或了解抗生素耐药性在自然和人为条件下的传播可能是重要的，在这些条件下，生物膜而不是单个细菌通常占主导地位。我们对质粒转移动力学、质粒持久性和生物膜发育和功能之间的相互作用的了解仍然有限。该研究计划的总体目标是研究生物膜结构、质粒存在和转移以及影响生物膜发育和活性的内在参数(如生物膜年龄)和外在参数(如抗生素压力)之间的相互关系。拟议的研究计划将包括两个主要研究重点。(I)我们会继续研究环境参数对生物膜结构和组成的影响。虽然先前的研究表明生物膜的发育受到外部因素的影响，如抗生素应激，但在建立外部参数与生物膜结构之间的相关性方面存在知识缺口。(Ii)我们将把上述研究产生的结果与生物膜中的质粒转移研究结合起来。需要回答的重要问题包括生物膜的老化和环境压力(如抗生素)的存在如何影响质粒转移的成功和质粒的持久性。拟议工作的发现可以提供与其他研究领域的联系，包括临床微生物学和补救策略。

There is a great need to understand the link between biofilms and gene transfer. Biofilms, accumulations of microorganisms and their products, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), play important roles in both natural and engineered environments. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), the exchange of genetic information (encoded on mobile genetic elements such as plasmids) between cells significantly contributes to adaptation, evolution and ecology of microbial communities and can be considered a bioaugmentation strategy. This could be of importance for finding new ways of dealing with environmental pollutants or understanding the spread of antibiotic resistance in natural and anthropogenic conditions where biofilms rather than individual bacteria usually predominate. We still have a limited understanding of the interplay between plasmid transfer dynamics, plasmid persistence and biofilm development and function. The overall objective for the proposed research program is to study the interconnection between biofilm architecture, plasmid presence and transfer, and intrinsic (e.g. biofilm age) and extrinsic (e.g. antibiotic stress) parameters influencing biofilm development and activities within biofilms. The proposed research program will include two main research foci. (i) We will continue studying the effect of environmental parameters on biofilm structure and composition. While previous studies have shown that biofilm development is influenced by external factors, such as antibiotic stress, a knowledge gap exists with respect to establishing correlations between external parameters and biofilm structure. (ii) We will couple the results generated in the research described above to the study of plasmid transfer in biofilms. Important questions to be answered include how biofilm age and the presence of environmental stress (e.g. antibiotics) influence the success of plasmid transfer and plasmid persistence. The findings from the proposed work can provide a connection to other research areas, including clinical microbiology and remediation strategies.