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Chemical communication is the basis of host-microbe interaction. Insights into this communication will provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that govern these complex associations, in beneficial as well as pathogenic contexts. In this dissertati ...
The consumption of fresh fruit and vegetable products has strongly increased during the past few decades. However, inherent to all minimally processed products is the short shelf life, and the risk of foodborne diseases, which have been increasingly relate ...
Bacterial adhesion is the first and a significant step in establishing infection. This adhesion normally occurs in the presence of flow of fluids. Therefore, bacterial adhesins must be able to provide high strength interactions with their target surface in ...
In the wild, bacteria are predominantly associated with surfaces as opposed to existing as free-swimming, isolated organisms. They are thus subject to surface-specific mechanics, including hydrodynamic forces, adhesive forces, the rheology of their surroun ...
Bacteria have evolved a wide range of sensing systems to appropriately respond to environmental signals. Here we demonstrate that the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa detects contact with surfaces on short timescales using the mechanical activ ...
Recognition of the bacterial host and attachment to its surface are two critical steps in phage infection. Here we report the identification of Gp108 as the host receptor-binding protein of the broad host-range, virulent Listeria phage A511. The ligands fo ...
Background Due to the increased emergence of antimicrobial resistance, alternatives to minimize the usage of antibiotics become attractive solutions. Biophysical manipulation of material surface topography to prevent bacterial adhesion is one promising app ...
Bacterial communities attached to surfaces under fluid flow represent a widespread lifestyle of the microbial world. Through shear stress generation and molecular transport regulation, hydrodynamics conveys effects that are very different by nature but str ...
Microorganisms aggregated into matrix-enclosed biofilms dominate microbial life in most natural, engineered, and medical systems. Despite this, the ecological adaptations and metabolic trade-offs of the formation of complex biofilms are currently poorly un ...
Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, is a model organism for studying virulence regulation, biofilm formation, horizontal gene transfer, and the cell-to-cell communication known as quorum sensing (QS). As in any research field, discrepancies be ...