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Biofilm Stress Responses Associated to Aromatic Hydrocarbons

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Cellular Ecophysiology of Microbe

Part of the book series: Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology ((HHLM))

  • 129 Accesses

Abstract

Efficient biotransformations that involve toxic aromatic hydrocarbons and bioremediation of environmental sites polluted with these compounds rely on the metabolic potential of microorganisms and their survival strategies to cope with their deleterious effects. Biofilm formation is acknowledged as one of the main colonization and persistence mechanisms of bacteria in the environment, providing protection against stress. Many bioremediation systems and bioreactors commonly rely on pure culture or mixed community biofilms. Although reaction parameters and overall population dynamics have been studied in some instances, there is limited information on how toxic aromatic hydrocarbons influence the process of biofilm development, the potentially associated tolerance mechanisms and their interplay with other biofilm stress response mechanisms. In this chapter, we briefly summarize the current information on this topic and present the existing research gaps that could expand the biotechnological exploitation of biofilms in this field.

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Acknowledgments

Work funded by grant P11-CVI-7391 from Junta de Andalucía and EFDR funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Protection, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Profesor Albareda, 1, Granada, 18008, Spain

    Laura Barrientos-Moreno & Manuel Espinosa-Urgel

Authors
  1. Laura Barrientos-Moreno
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  2. Manuel Espinosa-Urgel
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Correspondence to Manuel Espinosa-Urgel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones, Estacion Experimental del Zaidin, Granada, Spain

    Tino Krell

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Barrientos-Moreno, L., Espinosa-Urgel, M. (2017). Biofilm Stress Responses Associated to Aromatic Hydrocarbons. In: Krell, T. (eds) Cellular Ecophysiology of Microbe. Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20796-4_32-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20796-4_32-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20796-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20796-4

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