Biofilm Formation Potential of Enteropathogenic Bacteria and Their Survival in Drinking Water-Associated Biofilms

The present study aimed to assess the potential of three enteropathogenic bacteria to form single-species drinking water-associated biofilms and their capacity to attach to and survive in the multispecies bacterial biofilms, pre-existing on polypropylene and polyethylene pipe surfaces, in 63-day batch experiments with real drinking water. Dynamics of the biofilm formation process of the tested enteropathogens was studied, and the influence of the inter-species interactions and the type of polymer pipe materials as surface for attachment were clarified. It was found out, that the biofilm formation potential was a specific characteristic of each tested enteropathogen and was influenced by the pipe material type. The single-species- and multispecies biofilms of each enteropathogen differed in the culturable cells density and dynamics. The pathogen attachment to the bacterially pre-colonized surfaces was more significant compared to the non-colonized ones. The culturable S. dublin 1953 and Y. enterocolitica O:8 8081 cells persisted in the biofilms in a lower number than the E. coli O157 cells. The number of culturable pathogen cells in the single-species biofilms decreased faster than in the mixed bacterial biofilms.