ABSTRACT
Microorganisms — bacteria, viruses, yeasts, lower fungi, protists — do indeed attach themselves very rapidly onto inert or living media, forming aggregates of an extreme complexity. As a result, a large part of the attached microbial populations elude conventional investigation techniques. In the past, adsorption was acknowledged as being practically the only important factor enabling the survival of microorganisms in nature. The substrates or "interfaces" on which "biofilms" are formed were studied extensively. Current technology implements methods based on the amplification, by polymerized chain reactions, of nucleotidic sequences, called "PCR". This technique is guaranteed deserved success since it enables the quick detection of a microorganism, bacteria, virus, or even parasite, which are all undesirable in food, a pathological product, or even in a specific environment. Epistemologically, it is another level of observation which cannot in any case exclude the isolation, accurate identification, or possible pathogenic power of the identified microorganism, and its behavior in the face of the usual antagonists.
