Bacterial adsorption to smooth surfaces: Rate, extent, and spatial pattern

Abstract

The influence of bulk-water bacterial cell concentration and specific growth rate history on bacterial adsorption rates to surfaces was investigated using response surface analysis. A pure culture of Pseudomonas sp. 224s was grown in a chemostat and pumped into a continuous flow reactor where the bacteria were exposed to clean, glass surfaces under turbulent flow conditions for a periodof six hours. Adsorption rate decreased approximately linearly with increasing specific growth rate history. Glass surfaces became saturated with 2248 at ca. 0.1% coverage and the resulting spatial pattern of the adsorbed cells deviated from random in the direction of uniformity.