ABSTRACT
Biofilms are specialized diverse species of bacteria and fungi that adhere together due to the production of extra polymeric substances, making them viscoelastic in order to survive hostile environments. It facilitates the bacteria’s ability to persist in the environment, thereby playing a fundamental role in its epidemic cycle. The proliferation of the biofilm is a complex process and is regulated by several factors. When adhered together to a surface, these microorganisms undergo processes such as exchange of substrates, distribution of metabolites, and eviction of toxic end products. These processes make them resistant to both the immune defense mechanisms of the host and antibiotic therapy, thus emerging as a major public health hazard. The recalcitrant ability of the pathogenic biofilm to persist even in a high concentration of antimicrobial compounds makes treatment of them a gruesome task. This chapter focuses on the stepwise formation of biofilms and the metabolomic regulation that microorganisms undergo to facilitate the formation of biofilms. This chapter also encompasses different detection techniques that mainly rely on two attributes, the common phenotype of the organisms which display the characteristic features of slime production and the genotype which leads to their production.
