Direct measurement of adhesion force between a yeast cell and a lactic acid bacterium cell with atomic force...

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast coexist by providing nutrients as substrates for each other. LAB and yeast cells aggregate via specific interactions between mannose on the yeast surface and the mannose-binding protein (MBP) on the LAB surface. In addition to specific interactions via cell surface proteins, there are also nonspecific interactions related to microbial coaggregation; the extent of their contributions is not clear. Here, microbial coaggregation of yeast and LAB cells was investigated from the view point of particle technology. DLVO theory and thermodynamic approaches predicted that thermodynamically stable coaggregates are not formed because no hydrophobic interaction acts between yeast and LAB. In contrast, optical microscopy revealed that yeast with mannose and LAB with MBP were formed submillimeter-sized coaggregates, whereas deficient strains of yeast and/or LAB were dispersed. Single-cell force spectroscopy revealed that the median adhesion forces were less than 100 pN for all combinations of yeast and LAB. However, some of the adhesion forces between yeast with mannose and LAB with MBP were greater than 400 pN. Furthermore, in the presence of a microbial coaggregation inhibitor, coaggregation of yeast with mannose and LAB with MBP was suppressed, and the adhesion forces were less than 300 pN. These results indicate that the specific interaction rather than the nonspecific interactions acted between mannose on the yeast and the MBP on the LAB formed submillimeter-sized small aggregates. Understanding the contribution of predominant cell-cell interactions may help control microbial behavior in biotechnology.