Chong P, Erable B, Bergel A. How bacteria use electric fields to reach surfaces. Biofilm. 2021 Apr 8;3:100048. doi: 10.1016/j.bioflm.2021.100048. PMID: 33997766; PMCID: PMC8090995.
Abstract
Electrotaxis is the property of cells to sense electric fields and use them to orient their displacement. This property has been widely investigated with eukaryotic cells but it remains unclear whether or not bacterial cells can sense an electric field. Here, a specific experimental set-up was designed to form microbial electroactive biofilms while differentiating the effect of the electric field from that of the polarised electrode surface. Application of an electric field during exposure of the electrodes to the inoculum was shown to be required for an electroactive biofilm to form afterwards. Similar biofilms were formed in both directions of the electric field. This result is attributed to the capacity of the cells to detect the K+ and Na+ ion gradients that the electric field creates at the electrode surface. This microbial property should now be considered as a key factor in the formation of electroactive biofilms and possible implications in the biomedical domain are discussed.
Extract
4. Conclusions
According to the results described here, the ion concentration gradient of K+ and Na+ created by an electric field at a solid surface can be detected by bacterial cells and used to reach the surface. Here, the interfacial ion gradients resulted from a specific experimental set-up that allowed two different solutions to be separated. Such a set-up was necessary to distinguish the influence of the electric field from that of electrode polarisation. Nevertheless, the same kind of ionic flux is created at the surface of any polarised electrode that supports an electrochemical reaction. Therefore ion gradient at material surfaces should now be considered as a key factor of the long-range detection of electrodes by bacterial cells. As this phenomenon addresses the preliminary phase of biofilm formation, the cell approach phase, it may offer powerful ways to act on, boost, or mitigate the biofilm, or guide it towards a desired state. This would be of particular interest for technological purposes related to both the virtuous side, microbial electrochemical technologies, and the pernicious side, microbial corrosion, of electroactive biofilms.
Considering the ubiquitous presence of endogenous electric fields in living organisms [30,31] and the huge number of interfaces between the different tissues that compose them, the results described here may also impact biomedical research. Similarly to what was achieved in the present experimental set-up, in living organisms, the interfaces between different tissues separate media with different ionic compositions. Endogenous electric fields can consequently create interfacial ion gradients at these interfaces, as observed here. The hosted bacteria may be able to use these ion gradients to detect interfaces, e.g. organ surfaces, and form biofilms on them. This may happen on the natural interfaces that exist between different tissues and also on the artificial interfaces created by implanted materials. The extraordinary capacity of bacteria to detect and infect the surface of prostheses [63], so fast after implanting, is an example for which the ability of bacteria to detect interfacial ionic gradients to move towards surfaces should be considered. Moreover, the recent discoveries of the presence of electroactive microorganisms in living organisms [64,65] warrant the promotion of bacterial electroactivity as a promising field of investigation in the biomedical domain.