Effect of temperature, pH and plasmids on in vitro biofilm formation in Escherichia coli

Acid resistance (AR) in Escherichia coli is an important trait that protects this microorganism from the deleterious effect of low-pH environments. Reports on biofilm formation in E. coli K12 showed that the genes participating in AR were differentially expressed. Herein, we investigated the relationship between AR genes, in particular those coding for specific transcriptional regulators, and their biofilm-forming ability at the phenotypic level. The latter was measured in 96-well plates by staining the bacteria attached to the well, following 24-hour growth under static conditions, with crystal violet. The growth conditions were as follows: Luria Bertani (LB) medium at neutral and acidic pH, at 37°C or 25°C. We observed that the three major transcriptional regulators of the AR genes (gadX, gadE, gadW) only marginally affected biofilm formation in E. coli. However, a striking and novel finding was the different ability of all the tested E. coli strains to form a biofilm depending on the temperature and pH of the medium: LB, pH 7.4, strongly supported biofilm formation at 25°C, with biofilm being hardly detectable at 37°C. On the contrary, LB, pH 5.5, best supported biofilm formation at 37°C. Moreover, we observed that when E. coli carried a plasmid, the presence of the plasmid itself affected the ability to develop a biofilm, typically by increasing its formation. This phenomenon varies from plasmid to plasmid, depends on growth conditions, and, to the best of our knowledge, remains largely uninvestigated.