Dear all,
I think that two things must be taken into consideration:
1) Bacterial cells(how much ?) accumulated to form a colony or a film
inside (or not) an organic matrix.
2) Physiological expression of characters which would be characterictic of
bacteria living in biofilm.
A lot of knowledge is accumulated on morphology of biofilms. Knowledge
about physiology is not sufficient. Actually, who is able to show that
there are physiological differences between bacteria OF THE SAME AGE in
stationnary phase of growth(planctonic cells) and in biofilms. Recent
studies of my lab show (on Listeria monocytogenes and E coli O157 H7) that
the same resistance to desinfection (for example)is observed.
We need physiological studies to specify the biofilm phenotype if it exists
and when it is expressed during growth. Definition would have to take into
account morphological aspects of bacteria expressing the phenotype.
J. Labadie.
Jean Labadie
Directeur Adjoint SRV
(Deputy Director Meat Research Laboratory).
U R Microbiologie
INRA de Theix
63122 St Genes Champanelle
France
tel 04 73 62 41 57
Fax 04 73 62 42 68
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