The Role of Flagellum and Flagellum-Based Motility on Enteritidis and Biofilm Formation.

Flagellum-mediated motility has been suggested to contribute to virulence by allowing bacteria to colonize and spread to new surfaces. In and species, mutants affected by their flagellar motility have shown a reduced ability to form biofilms. While it is known that some species might act as co-aggregation factors for bacterial adhesion, studies of food-related biofilms have been limited to single-species biofilms and short biofilm formation periods. To assess the contribution of flagella and flagellum-based motility to adhesion and biofilm formation, two and mutants with different flagellar phenotypes were produced: the mutants, which do not produce flagella, and the mutants, which are non-motile. The ability of wild-type and mutant strains to form biofilms was compared, and their relative fitness was determined in two-species biofilms with other foodborne pathogens. Our results showed a defective and significant behavior of in initial surface colonization < 0.05, which delayed single-species biofilm formation. mutants were not affected by the ability to form biofilm ( > 0.05). Regarding the effect of motility/flagellum absence on bacterial fitness, none of the mutant strains seems to have their relative fitness affected in the presence of a competing species. Although the absence of motility may eventually delay initial colonization, this study suggests that motility is not essential for biofilm formation and does not have a strong impact on bacteria's fitness when a competing species is present.