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Updated: Sep 29, 2025

Anti-virulent Disruption of Pathogenic Biofilms using Engineered Quorum-quenching Lactonases
Published on: January 1, 2016
Layered Antibiofouling Composite Membrane for Quenching Bacterial Signaling
Kibaek Lee1, Syed Salman Ali Shah2, Hyeona Park2,3
1Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea.
Abstract:
Bacterial quorum quenching (QQ) media with various structures (e.g., bead, cylinder, hollow cylinder, and sheet), which impart biofouling mitigation in membrane bioreactors (MBRs), have been reported. However, there has been a continuous demand for membranes with QQ capability. Thus, herein, we report a novel double-layered membrane comprising an outer layer containing a QQ bacterium (BH4 strain) on the polysulfone hollow fiber membrane. The double-layered composite membrane significantly inhibits biofilm formation (i.e., the biofilm density decreases by ~58%), biopolymer accumulation (e.g., polysaccharide), and signal molecule concentration (which decreases by ~38%) on the membrane surface. The transmembrane pressure buildup to 50 kPa of the BH4-embedded membrane (17.8 h ± 1.1) is delayed by more than thrice (p < 0.05) of the control with no BH4 in the membrane’s outer layer (5.5 h ± 0.8). This finding provides new insight into fabricating antibiofouling membranes with a self-regulating property against biofilm growth.
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