I am a final year PhD student investigating potable water biofilms. I
have found that introducing glass discs into flowing tap water results in
the accumulation of large numbers of acid fast bacilli at the surfaces.
Some of these cells are released into the water column resulting in
increased numbers of culturable Mycobacteria relative to the background
levels. Perhaps the hydrophobic nature of the Mycobacterial cell surface
might make these bacteria ideally suited to attachment and
surface-associated growth?
I would be very grateful if anyone has information / references on
Mycobacteria in environmental biofilms.
Many thanks,
Nick Jakubovics
