Yeast Biofilm as a Bridge Between Medical and Environmental Microbiology Across Different Detection Techniques.

Luca Roscini,Alice Vassiliou,Vincent Robert,Stylianos E Orfanos,Debora Casagrande Pierantoni,Carlo Tascini,Gianluigi Cardinali,Daniele Fioretto,Sara Mattana,Martina Alunni Cardinali,Laura Corte

doi:10.1007/s40121-018-0191-4

Abstract

Medical and environmental microbiology have two distinct, although very short, histories stemming, the first from the pioneering works of Sommelweiss, Pasteur, Lister and Koch, the second mainly from the studies of Bejerink and Winogradsky. These two branches of microbiology evolved and specialized separately producing distinct communities and evolving rather different approaches and techniques. The evidence accumulated in recent decades indicate that indeed most of the medically relevant microorganisms have a short circulation within the nosocomial environment and a larger one involving the external, i.e. non-nosocomial, and the hospital environments. This evidence suggests that the differences between approaches should yield to a convergent approach aimed at solving the increasing problem represented by infectious diseases for the increasingly less resistant human communities. Microbial biofilm is one of the major systems used by these microbes to resist the harsh conditions of the natural and anthropic environment, and the even worse ones related to medical settings. This paper presents a brief outline of the converging interest of both environmental and medical microbiology toward a better understanding of microbial biofilm and of the various innovative techniques that can be employed to characterize, in a timely and quantitative manner, these complex structures. Among these, micro-Raman along with micro-Brillouin offer high hopes of describing biofilms both at the subcellular and supercellular level, with the possibility of characterizing the various landscapes of the different biofilms. The possibility of adding a taxonomic identification of the cells comprising the biofilm is a complex aspect presenting several technical issues that will require further studies in the years to come.

Highlights

Several opportunistic fungi are often found in food, environmental substrates and medical settings [1]
This paper presents a brief outline of the converging interest of both environmental and medical microbiology toward a better understanding of microbial biofilm and of the various innovative techniques that can be employed to characterize, in a timely and quantitative manner, these complex structures
We propose a novel way of characterizing biofilm through its metabolomics and mechanical characteristics, aiming at understanding their role in their stability on surfaces and the conditions allowing the delivering of large amounts of cells for the colonization of other surfaces

Summary

Introduction

Several opportunistic fungi are often found in food, environmental substrates and medical settings [1]. We propose the concept that biofilm is one of the most important factors to ensure the survival and the dissemination of the fungal cells throughout different habitats, including those of medical and clinical environments. This evidence suggests that pathogenic bacteria [17] and molds [18] are isolated from food and environmental samples and a large number of yeast species.

Results

Conclusion