Spectroelectrochemical examination of the interaction between bacterial cells and gold electrodes

Electrochemical Sensing and Characterization of Aerobic Marine Bacterial Biofilms on Gold Electrode Surfaces

Reliable and accurate in situ sensors capable of detecting and quantifying troublesome marine biofilms on metallic surfaces are increasingly necessary. A 0.2 mm diameter gold electrochemical sensor was fully characterized using cyclic voltammetry in abiotic and biotic artificial seawater media within a continuous culture flow cell to detect the growth and development of an aerobic Pseudoalteromonas sp. biofilm. Deconvolution of the abiotic and biotic responses enable the constituent extracellular electron transfer and biofilm responses to be resolved. Differentiation of enhanced oxygen reduction kinetics within the aerobic bacterial biofilm is linked to enzyme and redox mediator activities.

15N isotopic labelling for in-cell protein studies by NMR spectroscopy and single-cell IR synchrotron radiation FTIR microscopy: a correlative study

The effect of ¹⁵N-enrichment on human cells analyzed by correlative in-cell NMR and single-cell SR-FTIR experiments.

Influence of Electric Fields on Biofouling of Carbonaceous Electrodes

Biofouling commonly occurs on carbonaceous capacitive deionization electrodes in the process of treating natural waters. Although previous work reported the effect of electric fields on bacterial mortality for a variety of medical and engineered applications, the effect of electrode surface properties and the magnitude and polarity of applied electric fields on biofilm development has not been comprehensively investigated. This paper studies the formation of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm on a Papyex graphite (PA) and a carbon aerogel (CA) in the presence and the absence of an electric field. The experiments were conducted using a two-electrode flow cell with a voltage window of ±0.9 V. The CA was less susceptible to biofilm formation compared to the PA due to its lower surface roughness, lower hydrophobicity, and significant antimicrobial properties. For both positive and negative applied potentials, we observed an inverse relationship between biofilm formation and the magnitude of the applied potential. The effect is particularly strong for the CA electrodes and may be a result of cumulative effects between material toxicity and the stress experienced by cells at high applied potentials. Under the applied potentials for both electrodes, high production of endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) was indicative of bacterial stress. For both electrodes, the elevated specific ROS activity was lowest for the open circuit potential condition, elevated when cathodically and anodically polarized, and highest for the ±0.9 V cases. These high applied potentials are believed to affect the redox potential across the cell membrane and disrupt redox homeostasis, thereby inhibiting bacterial growth.

An in situ surface electrochemistry approach towards whole-cell studies: the structure and reactivity of a Geobacter sulfurreducens submonolayer on electrified metal/electrolyte interfaces

Characterisation of direct electron transfer processes between Geobacter sulfurreducens and the Au(111) surface was performed under electrochemical control.

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) to probe monolayers of membrane proteins

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) represents a variation of conventional infrared spectroscopy and exploits the signal enhancement exerted by the plasmon resonance of nano-structured metal thin films. The surface enhancement decays in about 10nm with the distance from the surface and is, thus, perfectly suited to selectively probe monolayers of biomembranes. Peculiar to membrane proteins is their vectorial functionality, the probing of which requires proper orientation within the membrane. To this end, the metal surface used in SEIRAS is chemically modified to generate an oriented membrane protein film. Monolayers of uniformly oriented membrane proteins are formed by tethering His-tagged proteins to a nickel nitrilo-triacetic acid (Ni-NTA) modified gold surface and SEIRAS commands molecular sensitivity to probe each step of surface modification. The solid surface used as plasmonic substrate for SEIRAS, can also be employed as an electrode to investigate systems where electron transfer reactions are relevant, like e.g. cytochrome c oxidase or plant-type photosystems. Furthermore, the interaction of these membrane proteins with water-soluble proteins, like cytochrome c or hydrogenase, is studied on the molecular level by SEIRAS. The impact of the membrane potential on protein functionality is verified by monitoring light-dark difference spectra of a monolayer of sensory rhodopsin (SRII) at different applied potentials. It is demonstrated that the interpretations of all of these experiments critically depend on the orientation of the solid-supported membrane protein. Finally, future directions of SEIRAS including cellular systems are discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: FTIR in membrane proteins and peptide studies.

Charge transport through Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms grown on graphite rods

Biofilms of the electroactive bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens were induced to grow on graphite-rod electrodes under a potential of 0 V (vs Ag/AgCl) in the presence of acetate as an electron donor. Increased anodic currents for bioelectrocatalytic oxidation of acetate were obtained when the electrodes were incubated for longer periods with periodic electron-donor feeding. The maximum current density for acetate oxidation increased 2.8-fold, and the biofilm thickness increased by 4.25-fold, over a time period of 83-147 h. Cyclic voltammetry in the presence of acetate supports a model of heterogeneous electron transfer, one electron at time, from biofilm to electrode through a dominant redox species centered at -0.41 V vs Ag/AgCl. Voltammetry performed under nonturnover conditions provided an estimate of the surface coverage of the redox species of 25 nmol/cm(2). This value was used to estimate a redox species concentration of 7.3 mM within the 34-μm-thick biofilm and a charge-transport diffusion coefficient of 3.6 × 10(-7) cm(2)/s. This value of diffusion coefficient is greater than that observed in traditional thin-film voltammetric studies with redox polymer films containing much higher surface concentrations of redox species and might be associated with proton transport to ensure electroneutrality within the biofilm upon electrolysis.

Organization of Pseudomonas fluorescens on chemically different nano/microstructured surfaces

This paper describes bacterial organization on nano/micropatterned surfaces with different chemical properties, which show different interactions with the biological systems (inert, biocompatible, and bactericide). These surfaces were prepared by molding techniques and exposed to Pseudomonas fluorescens (P. fluorescens) cultures. Results from atomic force microscopy and optical imaging demonstrate that the structure of P. fluorescens aggregates is strongly dependent on the surface topography while there is no clear linking with the physical-chemical surface properties (charge and contact angle) of the substrate immersed in abiotic culture media. We observe that regardless of the material when the surface pattern matches the bacterial size, bacterial assemblages involved in surface colonization are disorganized. The fact there is not a relationship between surface chemistry and bacterial organization can be explained by the coverage of the surfaces by adsorbed organic species coming from the culture medium. Viability assays indicate that copper behaves as a toxic substrate despite the presence of adsorbed molecules. The combination of surface traps and biocidal activity could act synergistically as a suitable strategy to limit bacterial spreading on implant materials.

Interfacial electrochemical electron transfer processes in bacterial biofilm environments on Au(111)

We have studied Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) biofilm growth and growth inhibition on Au(111)-surfaces using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and interfacial electrochemistry of a number of redox probe molecules. AFM of the biofilm growth and growth inhibition on both mica and Au(111)-surfaces was followed by sampling at given times, drying the samples naturally, and imaging. The electrochemical investigations were based on single-crystal Au(111)-electrode surfaces to exclude polycrystallinity as a cause of inhomogeneous voltammetric broadening on the biofilm covered electrode surfaces. The redox couples were chosen for their positive ([Ru(NH(3))(6)](3+/2+), [Co(terpy)(2)](3+/2+), terpy = 2,2',2''-terpyridine) or negative ([Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-), [IrCl(6)](3-/4-)) electrostatic charge. [Co(NH(3))(6)](3+/2+) and [Co(phen)(3)](3+/2+) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) were other inhibition factors investigated. The positively and negatively charged redox probe couples displayed antagonistic inhibition and voltammetric patterns. [Ru(NH(3))(6)](3+/2+) and the homologous compound [Co(NH(3))(6)](3+/2+) were the only probe compounds to effect growth inhibition. On the other hand, cyclic voltammetry (CV) of both [Ru(NH(3))(6)](3+/2+) (positively charged, biofilm growth inhibitor) and [Co(terpy)(2)](3+/2+) (positively charged, no biofilm growth inhibition) displayed fully reversible CV on biofilm covered electrodes, almost indistinguishable from CV at bare Au(111)-electrode surfaces. In comparison, CVs of [Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-) and [IrCl(6)](3-/4-) (both negatively charged and no growth inhibition) were distorted from planar diffusion behavior on bare Au(111)-electrode surfaces toward spherical diffusion behavior on S. mutans biofilm covered Au(111)-electrode surfaces. DNAase treatment of the biofilm covered Au(111)-electrode surface partly restores planar diffusion CV of [Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-) and [IrCl(6)](3-/4-). This is reflected in a decrease of the growth rate and the appearance of molecular-scale structures near the bacterial edges as imaged by AFM after DNAase treatment. A rationale for the different voltammetric behavior of positively and negatively charged redox probe molecules based on electrostatic properties of the local surface environment is offered.

Microbial biofilm voltammetry: direct electrochemical characterization of catalytic electrode-attached biofilms

While electrochemical characterization of enzymes immobilized on electrodes has become common, there is still a need for reliable quantitative methods for study of electron transfer between living cells and conductive surfaces. This work describes growth of thin (<20 microm) Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms on polished glassy carbon electrodes, using stirred three-electrode anaerobic bioreactors controlled by potentiostats and nondestructive voltammetry techniques for characterization of viable biofilms. Routine in vivo analysis of electron transfer between bacterial cells and electrodes was performed, providing insight into the main redox-active species participating in electron transfer to electrodes. At low scan rates, cyclic voltammetry revealed catalytic electron transfer between cells and the electrode, similar to what has been observed for pure enzymes attached to electrodes under continuous turnover conditions. Differential pulse voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy also revealed features that were consistent with electron transfer being mediated by an adsorbed catalyst. Multiple redox-active species were detected, revealing complexity at the outer surfaces of this bacterium. These techniques provide the basis for cataloging quantifiable, defined electron transfer phenotypes as a function of potential, electrode material, growth phase, and culture conditions and provide a framework for comparisons with other species or communities.

AFM studies of solid-supported lipid bilayers formed at a Au(111) electrode surface using vesicle fusion and a combination of Langmuir-Blodgett and Langmuir-Schaefer techniques

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to characterize the formation of a phospholipid bilayer composed of 1,2-dimyristyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) at a Au(111) electrode surface. The bilayer was formed by one of two methods: fusion of lamellar vesicles or by the combination of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) and Langmuir-Schaefer (LS) deposition. Results indicate that phospholipid vesicles rapidly adsorb and fuse to form a film at the electrode surface. The resulting film undergoes a very slow structural transformation until a characteristic corrugated phase is formed. Force-distance curve measurements reveal that the thickness of the corrugated phase is consistent with the thickness of a bilayer lipid membrane. The formation of the corrugated phase may be explained by considering the elastic properties of the film and taking into account spontaneous curvature induced by the asymmetric environment of the bilayer, in which one side faces the gold substrate and the other side faces the solution. The effect of temperature and electrode potential on the stability of the corrugated phase has also been described.