A GFP promoter fusion library for the study of Salmonella biofilm formation and the mode of action of biofilm inhibitors

Abstract

Salmonella, an important foodborne pathogen, forms biofilms in many different environments. The composition of these biofilms differs depending on the growth conditions, and their development is highly coordinated in time. To develop efficient treatments, it is therefore essential that biofilm formation and its inhibition be understood in different environments and in a time-dependent manner. Many currently used techniques, such as transcriptomics or proteomics, are still expensive and thus limited in their application. Therefore, a GFP-promoter fusion library with 79 important Salmonella biofilm genes was developed (covering among other things matrix production, fimbriae and flagella synthesis, and c-di-GMP regulation). This library is a fast, inexpensive, and easy-to-use tool, and can therefore be conducted in different experimental setups in a time-dependent manner. In this paper, four possible applications are highlighted to illustrate and validate the use of this reporter fusion library.

Keywords:

• biofilm
• Salmonella
• GFP
• reporter fusions
• mode of action
• FACS

Funding

This work was supported by the Industrial Research Fund of KU Leuven [grant number KP/06/014]; the Research Council of KU Leuven [grant number CoE EF/05/007 SymBioSys]; Strategic Basic Research of the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders [grant number IWT-SBO 120050]; the Interdisciplinary Research Program of the Special Research Fund of the KU Leuven [grant number BOF-IDO/11/008]; the FWO (Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (Belgium) through a postdoctoral fellowship to H.S.; and by the IWT in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen) through scholarship to S.R. and H.S.