Biofilm and methods of its eradication

Abstract

Microorganisms occur in the natural environment in the form of planktonic or create biofilms, i.e. communities of cells surrounded by the extracellular matrix. This is possible due to the phenomenon of quorum sensing, i.e. the ability of microorganisms to estimate their own density and change the expression of genes in response to them. Within such a structure, microorganisms are protected against harmful environmental conditions, their metabolic profile and the level of expression of individual genes are also changed, which leads to an increase in the pathogenicity of organisms associated in the form of biofilms. They pose a huge threat to hospital patients because they are capable of residing abiotic surfaces, such as catheters and endoprostheses, and can cause infection. The current methods of combating microbes with antibiotics and fungicides lose their effectiveness, both due to the increasing drug resistance of clinically relevant strains, but also to the very properties of biofilms. This determines the need to search for new and effective methods (physical, chemical and biological) to eradicate biofilms