How to build a biofilm

房子是由砖块、屋顶瓦片和灰浆等基本构件构成的。每个部分都是必不可少的，使建筑得以建造。此外，构件需要以正确的顺序组装，并有正确的空间安排，使房屋坚固和安全。按照这个类比，生物膜是由提供结构的细胞外基质（灰浆）包围的微生物群落（细胞可以被认为是砖块和屋顶瓦片）。当生活在生物膜中时，微生物受益并对抗生素和其他抗菌剂产生耐药性。这可能导致慢性抗生素耐药性感染的形成。我们感兴趣的是生物膜是如何形成的。所需要的主要组成部分已经确定，在本建议中，我们的目标是了解它们是如何组装的。了解它们是如何组装的，将有助于开发新的策略来阻止自然环境中的组装，从而指导未来开发用于慢性衰弱性生物膜感染的新型抗菌化合物。

A house is made from basic components that include bricks, roof tiles and mortar. Each part is essential to allow the building to be constructed. In addition the component parts need to be assembled in the correct order, and with the correct spatial arrangement, for the house to be strong and secure. Following this analogy, biofilms are communities of microbes (where the cells can be considered the bricks and roof tiles) that are surrounded by an extracellular matrix (the mortar) that provides structure. When living in the biofilm the microbes benefit and become resistant to antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. This can result in the formation of chronic antibiotic resistant infections. We are interested in how a biofilm is built. The main component parts that are needed have been identified and in this proposal we aim to understand how they are assembled. Understanding how they are assembled will allow the development of novel strategies to block assembly in the natural environment and therefore guide future development of novel antimicrobial compounds for chronic debilitating biofilm infections.