Microbial Biofilms and Biofouling

Dear Colleagues,

Microbial biofilms are an integral component of biofouling. Biofouling is the continual assembly of microorganisms and macroorganisms on human made structures that impair and deteriorate their function that results in a very expensive response. Macrofouling organisms, sessile invertebrate larvae and algal zoospores, generally encounter solid substrata that have already been colonized by a community of microorganisms that have formed a biofilm. These biofilms are a source of associative cues that influence the subsequent settlement of larvae or the attachment of zoospores. Reviewing the literature reveals reports of single species or multispecies biofilms stimulating, inhibiting, or having a neutral effect on the subsequent attachment of macrofouling organisms. In some of these cases, particularly with single species biofilms, chemical cues responsible for the interactions have been identified. However, their presence and persistence in natural multispecies biofilms where the extracellular molecular chemistry is modified through the dynamic physiological activity of the different microbes is not well understood.

Despite decades of scientific research regarding the potential role of biofilms in the attachment of macrofouling organisms, there are still numerous gaps in our knowledge. These gaps include, but are not limited to, identification of all the chemical stimulatory and/or inhibitory cues that are present in biofilms; how are these cues produced by the different microbes involved? How do these cues persist in natural biofilm communities? How do these cues function in natural biofilms? How do macrofouling organism receptors detect the specific microbial cues involved? How broad range are the effect of these cues? And what is the effect of the macrofouling organisms on the biofilm community?

This Special Issue aims to explore these and any other research questions involving the interactions between microbial biofilms and macrofouling organisms. In this special Issue, original research and reviews are welcome.

The Journal and I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. James S. Maki
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• microbial attachment
• biofilm formation
• microbial extracellular production of cues
• interactions between all microbes in a natural biofilm community
• sessile invertebrate larvae
• algal zoospores