Anti-biofilm activity of the Antarctic marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125

Considering the increasing impact of bacterial biofilms on human health, industrial and food-processing activities, the interest in the development of new approaches for the prevention and treatment of adhesion and biofilm formation capabilities has increased. A viable approach should target adhesive properties without affecting bacterial vitality in order to avoid the rapid appearance of escape mutants.It is known that marine bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudoalteromonas produce compounds of biotechnological interest, including anti-biofilm molecules. Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 is the first Antarctic Gram-negative strain whose genome was sequenced. In this work the anti-biofilm activity of P. haloplanktis supernatant was examined on different staphylococci. Results obtained demonstrated that supernatant of P. haloplanktis, grown in static condition, inhibits biofilm of Staphylococcus epidermidis. In order to define the chemical nature of the biofilm-inhibiting compound, the supernatant was subject to various treatments. Data reported demonstrated that the biologically active component is sensible to treatment with sodium periodate suggesting its saccharidic nature.