How about:
"A biofilm is a microbial growth on surfaces that forms structures not
available to a single attached cell, and that changes the
microenvironment experienced by the organisms." ?
A bit wordy. This would include even a perfectly uniform biofilm.
Perfect until anything happens. 8^) It's still a subjective call
whether the structure and the environment have changed enough to be
considered different. A hundred bacteria glued in a crack could be a
biofilm. They could be corroding metal or fermenting under there. You
wouldn't consider a tap water distribution system fouled because of
that, but you would an industrial high-purity system.
--
~DBH
Technical writing, literature search, and data analysis at the interface
of chemistry and biology.
davidbhedrick at icx.net
David B. Hedrick
P.O. Box 16082
Knoxville, TN 37996
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