Lipid composition of cell wall of three species of environmental mycobacteria and its possible role in the biofilm formations and motility by sliding

• Published in: Ciencia Veterinaria Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 47 - 59
• Main Authors: Alejandra Soledad Oriani, Alejandro Raul Gentili, Adriana Elena Zuñiga, Delia Susana Oriani, Mónica Baldini
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias 01-07-2017
• Subjects: acidos micólicos; biofilms; emmaldi-tof; micobacterias ambientales
• ISSN: 1515-1883; 1853-8495

The wall structures of Mycobacteria are usually associated with the abil­ity to form biofilm and motility by sliding. This study was performed with three strain of Environmental Mycobacteria (MA): Mycobacterium smegmatis, Mycobacterium gordonae and Mycobacterium porcinum. The goals of this paper were: a) to estab­lish by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) whether there are differences in the lipid carbon chain composition in the cell wall when they are in plank­tonic growth or forming biofilm; b) to evaluate the relation between lipid carbon chain composition and their sliding and biofilm formation abil­ity. M. porcinum and M. smegmatis formed biofilms of different sizes and presented motility. M. gordonae devel­oped poor biofilm and did not move. MALDI-TOF spectra obtained from EM in a planktonic state differ from EM biofilm–grown ones in their cell–wall lipidic carbon chain composition. EM biofilm–grown spectra show a greater diversity. All biofilm–grown EM spec­tra present short chain mycolic acids. These results suggest the importance of these mycolic acids in the forma­tion of biofilm, especially in its matu­ration. M. gordonae presented also a higher proportion of long-chain fatty acid, compared to M. smegmatis and M. porcinum. The presence of long hy­drophobic chains could possibly gen­erate a greater friction, thus reducing its motility.