Biofilm formation and amyloid production leads to ecological fitness in
marine Bacillus in warmer environmental settings
Abstract
Microorganisms that support higher trophic life forms are given a
central place in global climate change biology. However, the impact of
temperature rise on biofilms, dominant microbial life style in aquatic
environments is still unclear. Here, we investigated the impact of
temperature rise in the context of power plant cooling seawater system
on ecological fitness of marine Bacillus. Our results showed that
biofilm formation was significantly increased at 37 – 45 °C as compared
to ambient seawater temperature of 30 °C. This was supported by
increased production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and
amyloid in warmer waters. Amyloid, an important structural component in
the EPS matrix of Bacillus biofilms, in turn altered the colony
characteristics such as morphology, roughness and wetting behaviour
facilitating fitness. We hypothesize that biofilm formation and amyloid
production is a survival strategy for ecological fitness in marine
Bacillus for thriving in the warmer environmental settings.