Novel Approaches for Inhibiting Bacterial Biofilm Formation

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Bacteria grow in dense communities on surfaces in the environment and in the body. The bacteria are encased in an extracellular slime layer (or matrix) that provides protection and supports long-term survival. Unfortunately, some bacterial biofilms cause corrosion and damage to oil pipelines and surfaces submerged in water. Biofilms are also a major cause of bacterial infections, due to their increased ability to resist antibiotic treatment and the immune system. New strategies are needed to prevent or reduce biofilm formation, in order to reduce industrial damage and treat biofilm infections. One approach to reduce biofilms is to target the destruction of the polymers that make up the extracellular matrix. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is used as our model organism, because it is ubiquitous in the environment, and forms robust biofilms. We have identified the genes that are specifically turned on in biofilms, which contribute to building a biofilm, to resisting antibiotic treatment and to evading the immune response. It is proposed here to screen for novel antibiotics that reduce the ability to produce these factors that are essential to build a biofilm. We also propose to study the viruses that kill bacteria, with the intention to engineer viruses that are better equipped to kill biofilms. Due to the increasing problem of widespread antibiotic resistance, novel approaches are need to combat these industrial and medical problems caused by biofilms.