Pokeweed Antiviral Protein Slide Show 2. Bacteriophage multiplication in biofilm communities. The simple answer is yes. This study focuses on these differences, specifically how bacteria interact with viruses, and the results of this predator-prey interaction. The implications of this research are increasingly important to the medical, industrial, and natural communities in that they may suggest a new strategy for bacterial control.
Most bacterial infections require attachment of the bacteria to tissue surfaces.
Surface-attached bacteria form complex communities referred to as biofilms that allow them to resist natural body defenses and antibiotics. While bacteria can cause disease in man, they in turn are susceptible to their own disease caused by specialized viruses known as bacteriophage. We have known for several decades that free-swimming bacteria could be infected by bacteriophage. However, surface-adherent, biofilm bacteria had always been thought to be resistant. Our study shows that biofilm bacteria can resist low numbers of viruses, but can be attacked by high numbers of viruses.