Interfacial re-arrangement in initial microbial adhesion to surfaces

Upon initial microbial adhesion to a surface, multiple events occur that include interfacial re-arrangements in the region between an adhering organism and a surface. Application of physico-chemical mechanisms to explain microbial adhesion to surfaces requires better knowledge of the interfacial re-arrangement occurring immediately after adhesion than hitherto available.

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• The expression “microbial adhesion” is used in literature for different phenomena.
• Conditions to apply physico-chemical approaches to explain microbial adhesion are not always met.
• Interfacial re-arrangements during initial microbial adhesion cause bond strengthening.
• Interfacial re-arrangements during microbial adhesion hamper application of surface thermodynamics.
• Interfacial re-arrangement during initial microbial adhesion should be a future research focus.