Interactions of alginate-producing and -deficient Pseudomonas aeruginosa with zwitterionic polymers

In this work, we report a study of the interactions between bacteria and zwitterionic polymers using a long-range surface plasmon resonance (LR-SPR) sensor. The LR-SPR with an extended probing field allows one to perform in-situ monitoring of bacterial adhesion and to investigate bacteria–surface interactions under various conditions. Alginate-producing and -deficient Pseudomonas aeruginosa were used in order to study the role of capsular exopolysaccharide in bacterial adhesion onto a surface. Polycarboxybetaine polymers with one and two carbons in spaces between two oppositely charged moieties on polymer side chains (pCBAA-1 and pCBAA-2) were prepared in order to unveil the effects of material properties on surface resistance to bacterial adhesion. In addition, environmental factors (e.g., divalent cations) were investigated. This work demonstrates the role of polysaccharides beyond proteins in bacteria adhesion and the effective resistance of pCBAA-1 against bacterial adhesion.