METHODS FOR MICROBIAL BIOFILM DESTRUCTION AND INTERFERENCE WITH MICROBIAL CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY

摘要

The formation and maintenance of microbial biofilms is shown to be dependent on signaling pathways mediated by cyclic di-GMP. In the absence of such signaling, microbes detach from a biofilm, and thereby become more readily treatable with conventional antibiotics. Chemical or biological means that interfere with cyclic-di-GMP signaling induce biofilm dissolution, providing for a new class of antibiotics. In one embodiment of the invention, the biofilm inhibitor is an analog of cyclic-di-GMP, which competitively or non-competitively blocks signaling. In another embodiment of the invention, the biofilm inhibitor is a genetic sequence that interferes with cyclic-di-GMP synthesis or signaling.