Adhesion of bacterial pathogens to soil colloidal particles: Influences of cell type, natural organic matter, and solution chemistry

• Streptococcus suis SC05 adhesion to soil colloids were greater than Escherichia coli WH09.
• Natural organic matter on soil colloids inhibited pathogen adhesion.
• Pathogen adhesion is determined by a combination of various interactions.
• Cells were weakly adhered in shallow secondary energy minimum at lower IS.
• More EPS content on S. suis SC05 resulted in steric repulsion at IS 100 mM.

Bacterial adhesion to granular soil particles is well studied; however, pathogen interactions with naturally occurring colloidal particles (<2 μm) in soil has not been investigated. This study was developed to identify the interaction mechanisms between model bacterial pathogens and soil colloids as a function of cell type, natural organic matter (NOM), and solution chemistry. Specifically, batch adhesion experiments were conducted using NOM-present, NOM-stripped soil colloids, Streptococcus suis SC05 and Escherichia coli WH09 over a wide range of solution pH (4.0–9.0) and ionic strength (IS, 1–100 mM KCl). Cell characterization techniques, Freundlich isotherm, and Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) theory (sphere–sphere model) were utilized to quantitatively determine the interactions between cells and colloids. The adhesion coefficients (Kf) of S. suis SC05 to NOM-present and NOM-stripped soil colloids were significantly higher than E. coli WH09, respectively. Similarly, Kf values of S. suis SC05 and E. coli WH09 adhesion to NOM-stripped soil colloids were greater than those colloids with NOM-present, respectively, suggesting NOM inhibits bacterial adhesion. Cell adhesion to soil colloids declined with increasing pH and enhanced with rising IS (1–50 mM). Interaction energy calculations indicate these adhesion trends can be explained by DLVO-type forces, with S. suis SC05 and E. coli WH09 being weakly adhered in shallow secondary energy minima via polymer bridging and charge heterogeneity. S. suis SC05 adhesion decreased at higher IS 100 mM, which is attributed to the change of hydrophobic effect and steric repulsion resulted from the greater presence of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on S. suis SC05 surface as compared to E. coli WH09. Hence, pathogen adhesion to the colloidal material is determined by a combination of DLVO, charge heterogeneity, hydrophobic and polymer interactions as a function of solution chemistry.