Streptococcus thermophilus and its biosurfactants inhibit adhesion by Candida spp. on silicone rubber.

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The adhesion of yeasts, two Candida albicans and two Candida tropicalis strains isolated from naturally colonized voice prostheses, to silicone rubber with and without a salivary conditioning film in the absence and presence of adhering Streptococcus thermophilus B, a biosurfactant-releasing dairy isolate, was studied. Coverage of 1 to 4% of the surface of silicone rubber substrata with adhering S. thermophilus B gave significant reductions in the initial yeast adhesion regardless of the presence of a conditioning film. Mechanistically, this interference in yeast adhesion by S. thermophilus B was not due to direct physical effects but to biosurfactant release by the adhering bacteria, because experiments with S. thermophilus B cells that had released their biosurfactants prior to adhesion to silicone rubber and competition with yeasts did not show interference with initial yeast adhesion. The amounts of biosurfactants released were highest for mid-exponential- and early-stationary-phase bacteria (37 mg.g of cells-1 [dry weight]), but biosurfactants released by stationary-phase bacteria (14 mg.g of cells-1 [dry weight]) were the most surface active. The crude biosurfactants released were mixtures of various components, with a glycolipid-like component being the most surface active. A lipid-enriched biosurfactant fraction reduced the surface tension of an aqueous solution to about 35 mJ.m-2 at a concentration of only 0.5 mg.ml-1. The amount of biosurfactant released per S. thermophilus B cell was estimated to be sufficient to cover approximately 12 times the area of the cross section of the bacterium, making biosurfactant release a powerful defense weapon in the postadhesion competition of the bacterium with microorganisms such as yeasts. Preadsorption of biosurfactants to the silicone rubber prior to allowing yeasts to adhere was as effective against C. albicans GB 1/2 adhesion as covering 1 to 2% of the silicone rubber surface with adhering S. thermophilus B, but a preadsorbed biosurfactant layer was less effective against C. tropicalis GB 9/9.

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