Abstract
It is well known that the opportunistic pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans, can form polymicrobial biofilms with a variety of bacteria, both in vitro and in vivo, and that these polymicrobial biofilms can impact the course and management of disease. Although specific interactions are often described as either synergistic or antagonistic, this may be an oversimplification. Polymicrobial biofilms are complex two-way interacting communities, regulated by inter-domain (inter-kingdom) signaling and various molecular mechanisms. This review article will highlight advances over the last six years (2016-2021) regarding the unique biology of polymicrobial biofilms formed by C. albicans and bacteria, including regulation of their formation. In addition, some of the consequences of these interactions, such as the influence of co-existence on antimicrobial susceptibility and virulence, will be discussed. Since the aim of this knowledge is to inform possible alternative treatment options, recent studies on the discovery of novel anti-biofilm compounds will also be included. Throughout, an attempt will be made to identify ongoing challenges in this area.
Highlights
The opportunistic pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans can form biofilms on biotic and abiotic surfaces including implanted medical devices (Tsui et al, 2016)
An in vitro model of C. albicans/ Streptococcus gordonii dual-species biofilms on titanium discs Montelongo-Jauregui et al (2018) has been developed. All these models indicated the formation of robust polymicrobial biofilms (PMBs) and synergistic cross-kingdom interactions between C. albicans and oral bacteria, under conditions that may be present in the oral cavity
When the influence of different atmospheric condition was evaluated on PMBs consisting of C. albicans-S. gordonii-Fusobacterium nucleatum-Porphyromonas gingivalis (Abusrewil et al, 2020), it was found that the greats biofilm formation occurred under 5% CO2 conditions
Summary
The opportunistic pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans can form biofilms on biotic and abiotic surfaces including implanted medical devices (Tsui et al, 2016). These biofilms are often polymicrobial in nature, containing other fungi (Rossoni et al, 2015; Pathirana et al, 2019), bacteria (Khan et al, 2021) and viruses (Mazaheritehrani et al, 2014; Ascione et al, 2017). Polymicrobial interactions may influence the host immune response and the outcome of infection (Bergeron et al, 2017) Understanding these interactions, including the molecular mechanisms of regulation, is important to manage C. albicans-containing polymicrobial biofilms (PMBs). Recent work regarding discovery of novel antibiofilm treatment options will be highlighted
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