Bacterial adhesion to surfaces occurs via a two-step process. At long distances, nonspecific forces such as van der Waals interactions and electrosteric forces dominate the interactions. Once bacteria are in close proximity to a surface, specific forces such as ligand receptor interactions and hydrogen bonding become dominant. Bacterial adhesion forces can be quantified using atomic force microscopy (AFM). However, AFM can allow only for the overall interaction forces to be measured. We have used soft-particle DLVO theory along with Poisson statistics to decouple the bacterial adhesion forces into their individual components. Our results indicated that the adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes to silicon nitride was dominated by attractive van der Waals forces at long distances while hydrogen bonds were dominant at short distances. In comparison, although our AFM data indicated that both environmental and epidemic strains of L. monocytogenes are characterized by similar overall adhesion forces, the contributions of specific and nonspecific forces to their overall adhesion differed significantly.

Statistical and theoretical approach to detailing the nature of forces which govern the bacterial adhesion process

244th National Meeting (2012)

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