Depletion forces drive reversible capture of live bacteria on non-adhesive surfaces

Because bacterial adhesion to surfaces is associated with infections and biofilm growth, it has been a longstanding goal to develop coatings that minimize biomolecular adsorption and eliminate bacteria adhesion. We demonstrate that, even on carefully-engineered non-bioadhesive coatings such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) layers that prevent biomolecule adsorption and cell adhesion, depletion interactions from non-adsorbing polymer in solution (such as 10 K PEG or 100 K PEO) can cause adhesion and retention of Escherichia coli cells, defeating the antifouling functionality of the coating. The cells are immobilized and remain viable on the timescale of the study, at least up to 45 minutes. When the polymer solution is replaced by buffer, cells rapidly escape from the surface, consistent with expectations for the reversibility of depletion attractions. The dissolved polymer additionally causes cells to aggregate in solution and aggregates rapidly dissociate to singlets upon tenfold dilution in buffer, also consistent with depletion. Hydrodynamic forces can substantially reduce the adhesion of aggregates on surfaces in conditions where single cells adhere via depletion. The findings reported here suggest that because bacteria thrive in polymer-rich environments both in vivo and in situ, depletion interactions may make it impossible to avoid bacterial retention on surfaces.