How do bacteria develop into a teeming, active community?
Some cells are able to produce copius amounts of polysaccharides, which act as mucus layers and hold the cells to the surface. These are called the primary colonizers. This external slime captures other bacteria (secondary colonizers), who live and grow off the waste products produced by the primary colonizers. Before you know it, there’s an extensive and complex microbial community, all tangled up inside the polysaccharide slime. This is the biofilm. What is a nice cell like you doing in a place like this? (The advantages of living in a biofilm.) 1) Protection from Antibiotics. Scientists have shown that much higher concentrations of antibiotics are needed to kill bacteria in biofilms, compared to free-living bacteria. Originally, it was assumed that the biofilm provided a physical barrier against the antibiotic; scientists thought that the antibiotic could not penetrate the biofilm. This may play a role in providing protection. However, there is evidence that the nature of the coloni
