Bacteriophages as an Alternative Strategy for Fighting Biofilm Development

Abstract

The ability of microbes to form biofilms is an important element of their pathogenicity, and biofilm formation is a serious challenge for today's medicine. Fighting the clinical complications associated with biofilm formation is very difficult and linked to a high risk of failure, especially in a time of increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Bacterial species most commonly isolated from biofilms include coagulase-negative staphylococci, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. The frequent failure of antibiotic therapy led researchers to look for alternative methods and experiment with the use of antibacterial factors with a mechanism of action different from that of antibiotics. Experimental studies with bacteriophages and mixtures thereof, expressing lytic properties against numerous biofilm-forming bacterial species showed that bacteriophages may both prevent biofilm formation and contribute to eradication of biofilm bacteria. A specific role is played here by phage depolymerases, which facilitate the degradation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and thus the permeation of bacteriophages into deeper biofilm layers and lysis of the susceptible bacterial cells. Much hope is placed in genetic modifications of bacteriophages that would allow the equipping bacteriophages with the function of depolymerase synthesis. The use of phage cocktails prevents the development of phage-resistant bacteria.

Biofilms Formed by Pathogens in Food and Food Processing Environments

“…One of the bacteriophages' applications that is intensively explored targets biofilm-forming bacteria that are relevant for food industry, including L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, E. coli, B. cereus, and S. enterica. However, the success of this approach in fighting biofilms depends on a series of factors such as composition and structure of biofilms, biofilms' maturity, and physiological state of bacterial host residing within biofilms, concentration of bacterial host, or extracellular matrix [95].…”

Efficacy of Lytic Bacteriophages against Multidrug Resistant Salmonella enteritidis from Milk and Meat

“…could be controlled by phage therapy. Bacteriophages are considered as most abundant group of viruses and are present in environment mainly in water, soil, sewage and different foodstuffs (Sajjad et al, 2004;Parasion et al, 2014). The use of lytic bacteriophages to control the drug-resistant bacteria without harming the eukaryotic cell is known as bacteriophage therapy (Sulakvelidze et al, 2001).…”

Antibiofilm Activity of Crude Cell Free Extract from <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> S01 against <i>E. coli</i>

“…In recent years, a series of different approaches have been developed targeting biofilm that have the potential to suppress resistance. Most studies seek to prevent biofilm formation while others aim to disrupt the polymeric ties that bind the biofilms together [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Although currently a lot of research is going on for isolation of antibiofilm compounds involving many natural compounds ranging from plant extracts to bacterial metabolites, the focus is mainly on preventing the initial adhesion of bacteria to a surface or lowering the force of adhesion between bacteria and a surface to facilitate removal [13].…”