ABSTRACT
Bacteria/material interfaces play an important role in many industrial and medical fields. Besides microbiologically induced corrosion, bacteria adherent to surfaces are responsible for bacterial contamination of the material environment, since their
so-called “biofilms” sessile (i.e., attached to a surface) communities constitute reserves of infectious bacteria [1]. For bacterial cells, a biofilm provides protection against many stresses coming from the surroundings, such as high or low temperatures, dehydration, detergents, or biocides [2]. Indeed, biofilm matrix is highly hydrated, stores bacteria nutrients and is able to restrict the diffusion of molecules by steric retention or by entrapping molecules through inter-molecular bindings [3]. Moreover, biofilm-associated bacteria are able to limit their sensitivity to antibacterial molecular species by appropriate metabolic adaptations [4]. Obviously, these biofilm properties are highly favourable for bacteria survival in hostile media. On the contrary, they constitute an acute disadvantage for the host surroundings and make the fight against biofilms a difficult challenge.
