Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistance of monosaccharide-functionalized glass surfaces

Preventing microorganism colonization on a surface is a great challenge in the conception of medical, food and marine devices. Here, we describe the formation of carbohydrate functionalized glass surfaces with D-glucose, D-galactose and D-mannose and how they efficiently affected the bacterial attachment. The carbohydrate entities were covalently attached to the pre-functionalized surface by click chemistry thanks the copper catalysed alkyl-azide cycloaddition. Water contact angle and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterisations showed a homogeneous and quantitative cycloaddition at the scale of microorganisms. The adhesion assays with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, used as model of opportunistic pathogen, indicated a significant diminution of almost 40% of the bacterial accumulation on glycosidic surfaces with respect to initial surface. This activity was further compared with a surface presenting a simple hydroxyl residue. Exploration of specific interactions through Lectin A deficient Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutant strain provided new evidences that Lectin A was involved in biofilm maturation, rather than bacterial attachment. Subsequently, the determination of surface free energy and the adhesion free energy between surfaces and bacterial cell wall showed that the adhesion was thermodynamically unfavourable.