Changes of Biofilm-Forming Bacterial Community Composition on Acrylic Surface Emerged in Seawater

Abstract

Early phase of biofilm formation process and seasonal fluctuation of film-forming bacterial number and activities on acrylic surface were investigated at the JangMok Cove, Goje Island located in southern area of Korea. The investigation was started at Oct. 2001, mid-autumn season, and prolonged to Jul. 2002. During the initial period of biofilm formation bacterial numbers and activities increased rapidly after 3 days of adaptation. But the extracellular enzyme activities and metabolic diversity based on Microlog GN2 plate did not change obviously after maturation of biofilm. Diversity of film-associated bacteria analyzed by T-RFLP method slightly increased during the early phase of film formation. After maturation the number of detected T-RFs decreased and proportion of major T-RFs (T-RFs showing higher than 5% of total area) increased. Morphological diversity and RFLP types of culturable bacteria became simplified after maturation even though higher-organisms-associated bacteria were recruited. [This research was granted to HK Lee from NRL Program of the Ministry of Science & Technology, Korea]