Chapter 8 - Control of microbial biofilms: Application of natural and synthetic compounds

Abstract

Biofilms are the complex multicellular community adherent to the biotic or abiotic surface, living within a self-built extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) composed of different macromolecules, e.g., polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and extracellular DNA (eDNA). Despite many biotechnologically useful applications, the biofilm is often regarded as a life-threatening form of bacterial infection. Since this form of bacterial life (multicellular community) has an intrinsically 10–100-fold increase in tolerance to antibiotic treatment due to the resistance offered by biofilms to bacteria, a control strategy needs to different from dealing with planktonic cells. The challenging aspects of biofilm inhibition involve difficulty in understanding the complexity of the microbial interactions within the biofilm and breaking up of an extracellular matrix responsible for decreasing antibiotic efficacy due to lower penetration into deeper layers of the biofilm. Natural compounds have been used for control of bacterial infection for centuries. With the availability of new techniques, the identification and extraction of novel pure compounds have become easier. These novel compounds can be used to develop future antimicrobial agents for the control of microbial biofilms forming on living tissues, indwelling medical devices, industrial or potable water system piping, or natural aquatic systems. With the accessibility of advanced techniques, the synthesis of novel antimicrobial compounds has become easy. Many novel antimicrobial peptides, flavonoids, lactone, coumarins, and nanomaterials are known to be used for combatting microbial biofilms. In this chapter, we present a review of available natural and synthetic compounds to prevent or counteract these multicellular forms of microbial biofilms.