%0 Journal Article
%T The streptococcal collagen-like protein-1 (Scl1) is a significant determinant for biofilm formation by group a Streptococcus
%A Heaven A Oliver-Kozup
%A Meenal Elliott
%A Beth A Bachert
%A Karen H Martin
%A Sean D Reid
%A Diane E Schwegler-Berry
%A Brett J Green
%A Slawomir Lukomski
%J BMC Microbiology
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2180-11-262
%X Biofilm formation by M1-, M3-, M28-, and M41-type GAS strains, representing an intraspecies breadth, were analyzed spectrophotometrically following crystal violet staining, and characterized using confocal and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The M41-type strain formed the most robust biofilm under static conditions, followed by M28- and M1-type strains, while the M3-type strains analyzed here did not form biofilm under the same experimental conditions. Differences in architecture and cell-surface morphology were observed in biofilms formed by the M1- and M41-wild-type strains, accompanied by varying amounts of deposited extracellular matrix and differences in cell-to-cell junctions within each biofilm. Importantly, all Scl1-negative mutants examined showed significantly decreased ability to form biofilm in vitro. Furthermore, the Scl1 protein expressed on the surface of a heterologous host, Lactococcus lactis, was sufficient to induce biofilm formation by this organism.Overall, this work (i) identifies variations in biofilm formation capacity among pathogenically different GAS strains, (ii) identifies GAS surface properties that may aid in biofilm stability and, (iii) establishes that the Scl1 surface protein is an important determinant of GAS biofilm, which is sufficient to enable biofilm formation in the heterologous host Lactococcus. In summary, the GAS surface adhesin Scl1 may have an important role in biofilm-associated pathogenicity.Microbial biofilm formation is an important virulence mechanism, which allows immune evasion and survival against antibiotic treatments [1,2]. Many bacterial nosocomial infections are associated with biofilms formed on contaminated medical devices. Dispersal of biofilm has also been proposed to augment infection spread [3-8]. For group A Streptococcus (GAS), biofilm research is an emerging field and little is known about the specific surface determinants that aid in biofilm formation. GAS is characteristically associat
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/11/262