Bacterial Adhesion

Research on bacterial adhesion and its significance is a major field involving many different aspects of nature and human life, such as marine science, soil and plant ecology, most importantly, the biomedical field. The adhesion ofbacteria to the food industry, and human tissue surfaces and implanted biomaterial surfaces is an important step in the patho genesis of infection. Handbook 0/ Bacterial Adhesion: Principles, Methods, and Applications is an outgrowth of the editors' own quest for information on laboratory techniques for studying bacte rial adhesion to biomaterials, bone, and other tissues and, more importantly, a response to significant needs in the research community. This book is designed to be an experimental guide for biomedical scientists, biomaterials scientists, students, laboratory technicians, or anyone who plans to conduct bacterial adhesion studies. More specifically, it is intended for all those researchers facing the chal lenge of implant infections in such devices as orthopedic prostheses, cardiovascular devices or catheters, cerebrospinal fluid shunts or extradural catheters, thoracic or abdominal catheters, portosystemic shunts or bile stents, urological catheters or stents, plastic surgical implants, oral or maxillofacial implants, contraceptive implants, or even contact lenses. It also covers research methods for the study of bacterial adhesion to tis sues such as teeth, respiratory mucosa, intestinal mucosa, and the urinary tract. In short, it constitutes a handbook for biomechanical and bioengineering researchers and students at all levels.

Attachment to host cells or tissues is often the first step in the establishment of bacterial infections. A complex array of recognition, attachment, and virulence factors is involved in this process, which recent research has greatly illuminated. This comprehensive and authoritative volume discusses the specific cell and tissue-specific affinities of pathogenic microorganisms, including bioinorganic surfaces such as teeth, and is an essential reference for researchers and students of host-pathogen interactions.

This book is about the adhesion of bacteria to their human hosts. Although adhesion is essential for maintaining members of the normal microflora in/on their host, it is also the crucial first stage in any infectious disease. It is important, therefore, to fully understand the mechanisms underlying bacterial adhesion so that we may be able to develop methods of maintaining our normal (protective) microflora, and of preventing pathogenic bacteria from initiating an infectious process. These topics are increasingly important because of the growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and, consequently, the need to develop alternative approaches for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. This book describes the bacterial structures responsible for adhesion and the molecular mechanisms underlying the adhesion process. It also deals with the consequences of adhesion for both the adherent bacterium and the host cell/tissue to which it has adhered.

Study of the phenomena of bacterial adhesion to surfaces has accelerated considerably over the past 10 to 15 years. During this period, microbiologists have become increasingly aware that attachment to a substratum influences considerably the activities and structures of microbial cells. Moreover, in many cases attached communities of cells have important effects on their substratum and the surrounding environment. Such phenomena are now known to be important in plant and animal hosts, water and soil ecosystems, and man-made structures and industrial processes. Much work on microbial adhesion in the early 1970s was descriptive. Those studies were important for detecting and describing the phenomena of bacterial adhesion to substrata in various environments; the findings have been presented in numerous recently published, excellent books and reviews. In some studies, attempts were made to elucidate some funda mental principles controlling adhesion processes in different environments containing a variety of microorganisms. Common threads have been observed occasionally in different studies. Taken as a whole, however, the information has revealed that many disparate factors are involved in adhesion processes. Whether a particular microorganism can adhere to a certain substratum depends on the properties of the microbial strain itself and on charac teristics of the substratum and of the environment.

Over the last few years, bacterial adhesion has become a more and more important and active scientific area, but the field lacks communication and scientific exchange between medical and microbiology researchers who work with the relevant biological systems, and biochemists, structural biologists and physicists, who know and understand the physical methods best suited to investigate the phenomenon at the molecular level. The field consequently would benefit from a cross-disciplinary conference enabling such communication. This book tries to bridge the gap between the disciplines.

General concepts and principles of bacterial adherence in animals and man; Adherence of normal flora to mucosal surfaces; Bacterial adherence and the formation of dental plaques; Mechanisms of adherence of Streptococcus mutans to smooth surfaces in vitro; Structure and cell membrane-binding properties of bacterial lipoteichoic acids and their possible role in adhesion of Streptococci to eukaryotic cells; Attachment of Mycoplasma pneumoniae to respiratory epithelium; Adhesive properties of Enterobacteriaceae; The adhesive properties of Vibrio cholerae and other Vibrio species; Adherence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and other Neisseria species to mammalian cells;Structure and cell membrane-binding properties of bacterial fimbriae: Adherence of marine micro-organisms to smooth surfaces; Microbial adherence in plants; Cell recognition systems in eukaryotic cells; Prospects for preventing the association of harmful bacteria with host mucosal surfaces.

BACTERIAL ADHESION Molecular and Ecological Diversity Edited byMadilyn Fletcher Over the last twenty years, research has revealed the enormouscomplexity underlying the phenomenon of bacterial adhesion. Theinitial research goal was to understand the mechanism of attachmentand its effects on the bacteria as well as the host. As researchprogressed, however, it became evident that many differentattachment mechanisms exist. These diverse forms of adhesion arethe results of numerous evolutionary pressures, and each may bepart of a larger behavioral strategy. This comprehensive overview details how diversity in habitat andecological requirements has led to enormous variety in adhesivecell components, underlying genetic determinants, and behavioralstrategies. It presents the latest research on adhesion mechanismsand strategies found in diverse environments and microorganisms,including the new environment of biomaterials. Bacterial Adhesion: Molecular and Ecological Diversity examinesadhesion as a strategy for nutrient access and as a phase in thecomplex behavior of life cycle processes. It covers the latestresearch and innovative approaches in the field, including: * Conceptual advances in research on the adhesion of bacteria tooral surfaces * Enhancing colonization in a fluctuating environment * The cellulosome: a cell-surface organelle for the adhesion to anddegradation of cellulose * Pseudomonas aeruginosa--versatile attachment mechanisms * Sensing, response, and adaptation to surfaces * Myxococcus coadhesion and role in the life cycle Edited by a leading authority on bacterial adhesion and featuringcontributions from the field's leading experts, this book speaks toresearchers in all areas of microbiology, biotechnology,environmental technology, and environmental science, as well asurology, immunology, and infectious diseases. Bacterial Adhesion: Molecular and Ecological Diversity is thelatest addition to the Wiley Series in Ecological and AppliedMicrobiology. Recent books in the series include: * Microbial Transformation and Degradation of Toxic OrganicChemicals edited by Lily Y. Young and Carl E. Cerniglia * Wastewater Microbiology by Gabriel Bitton * Environmental Microbiology edited by Ralph Mitchell * Biotechnology in Plant Disease Control edited by Ilan Chet * Antarctic Microbiology edited by E. Imre Friedmann * Effects of Acid Rain on Forest Processes edited by Douglas L.Godbold and Aloys Huttermann

It has been 80 years since the subject of bacterial adhesion to surfaces was first brought forth, but only in the last two decades has the importance of this subject been recognized by medical microbiologists. The fact that bacterial attachment to the host tissue is a prerequisite for infection understandably led to the hope that infections could be prevented by blocking the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria. Progress in this field has been so rapid that it has become difficult to keep up with recent developments. This book contains the proceedings of the symposium on the Molecular Mechanisms of Microbial Adhesion, May 6-8, 1988. Both the symposium and this book were intended as an up-to-date review of the most recent findings concerning the adhesion of medically important bacteria. In addition, this book contains critical and provocative overviews of the past, present and future of this field.