Acinetobacter baumannii biofilms: variations among strains and correlations with other cell properties

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen that causes serious infections in humans by colonizing and persisting on surfaces normally found in hospital settings. The capacity of this pathogen to persist in these settings could be due to its ability to form biofilms on inanimate surfaces. This report shows that although the ATCC 19606(T) type strain and 8 different clinical isolates form biofilms, there are significant variations in the cell density and microscopic structures of these cell aggregates, with 3 of the isolates forming pellicles floating on the surface of stagnant broth cultures. PCR indicated that, like ATCC 19606(T), all 8 clinical isolates harbor all the genetic components of the CsuA/BABCDE chaperone-usher pili assembly system, which is needed for biofilm formation on plastic. Pili detection in cells of all strains examined supports the presence and function of a pilus assembly system. However, only one of them produced the putative ATCC 19606(T) CsuA/B pilin subunit protein. Hydrophobicity tests and motility assays also showed significant variations among all tested strains and did not result in direct correlations between the biofilm phenotype and cell properties that could affect biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces. This lack of correlation among these 3 phenotypes may reflect some of the variations already reported with this pathogen, which may pose a challenge in the treatment of the infections this pathogen causes in humans using biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces as a target.