Charge transfer during staphylococcal adhesion to TiNOX coatings with different specific resistivity

Adhesion of the bacterial strain Staphylococcus epidermidis 3399 to titanium-oxy-nitride (TiNOX) substrata with different specific resistivities was studied in a parallel plate flow chamber, while simultaneously measuring the electric potential of the substrata. During adhesion, bacteria either donated or accepted electrons to the substrata depending on the specific resistivity of the substratum and bacteria that had donated electrons to the substratum adhered more strongly than bacteria that had accepted electrons from the substratum. These results demonstrate that electron transfer plays a role in bacterial adhesion to conducting surfaces, which has hitherto been neglected.