Impact of alginate overproduction on attachment and biofilm architecture of a supermucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain.

The supermucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PDO300Deltaalg8(pBBR1MCS-5:alg8) showed strongly impaired attachment compared with the respective mucoid or nonmucoid strains and formed a thicker biofilm with large extended mushroom-like microcolonies. Alginate lyase treatment dissolved microcolonies. The data suggested that alginate overproduction impairs attachment but plays a structural role in microcolony formation.