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Updated: Jul 28, 2026

Bile Salt-induced Biofilm Formation in Enteric Pathogens: Techniques for Identification and Quantification
Published on: May 6, 2018
Glycopeptidolipid acetylation affects sliding motility and biofilm formation in Mycobacterium smegmatis
1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Abstract:
The absence of glycopeptidolipids (GPLs) abolishes the ability of mycobacteria both to slide over the surface of motility plates and to form biofilms on polyvinyl chloride. In a screen for biofilm-defective mutants of Mycobacterium smegmatis mc(2)155, a new mutant was obtained that resulted in partial inhibition of both processes and also showed an intermediate rough colony morphology. The mariner transposon insertion mapped to a GPL biosynthesis gene (atf1) which encodes a putative acetyltranferase involved in the transfer of acetyl groups to the glycopeptide core. Physical characterization of the GPLs from the atf1 mutant demonstrated that they were not acetylated.
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