Natural Bactericidal Surfaces: Mechanical Rupture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cells by Cicada Wings

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Abstract

Natural superhydrophobic surfaces are often thought to have antibiofouling potential due to their self-cleaning properties. However, when incubated on cicada wings, Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells are not repelled; instead they are penetrated by the nanopillar arrays present on the wing surface, resulting in bacterial cell death. Cicada wings are effective antibacterial, as opposed to antibiofouling, surfaces. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

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Antifouling coatings: recent developments in the design of surfaces that prevent fouling by proteins, bacteria, and marine organisms.

Indrani Banerjee, Ravindra Pangule, Ravi Kane (2011)

The major strategies for designing surfaces that prevent fouling due to proteins, bacteria, and marine organisms are reviewed. Biofouling is of great concern in numerous applications ranging from biosensors to biomedical implants and devices, and from food packaging to industrial and marine equipment. The two major approaches to combat surface fouling are based on either preventing biofoulants from attaching or degrading them. One of the key strategies for imparting adhesion resistance involves the functionalization of surfaces with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or oligo(ethylene glycol). Several alternatives to PEG-based coatings have also been designed over the past decade. While protein-resistant coatings may also resist bacterial attachment and subsequent biofilm formation, in order to overcome the fouling-mediated risk of bacterial infection it is highly desirable to design coatings that are bactericidal. Traditional techniques involve the design of coatings that release biocidal agents, including antibiotics, quaternary ammonium salts (QAS), and silver, into the surrounding aqueous environment. However, the emergence of antibiotic- and silver-resistant pathogenic strains has necessitated the development of alternative strategies. Therefore, other techniques based on the use of polycations, enzymes, nanomaterials, and photoactive agents are being investigated. With regard to marine antifouling coatings, restrictions on the use of biocide-releasing coatings have made the generation of nontoxic antifouling surfaces more important. While considerable progress has been made in the design of antifouling coatings, ongoing research in this area should result in the development of even better antifouling materials in the future. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

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Biophysics: water-repellent legs of water striders.

Xuefeng Gao, Lei Jiang (2004)

Water striders (Gerris remigis) have remarkable non-wetting legs that enable them to stand effortlessly and move quickly on water, a feature believed to be due to a surface-tension effect caused by secreted wax. We show here, however, that it is the special hierarchical structure of the legs, which are covered by large numbers of oriented tiny hairs (microsetae) with fine nanogrooves, that is more important in inducing this water resistance.

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A reversible wet/dry adhesive inspired by mussels and geckos.

Haeshin Lee, Bruce P Lee, Phillip B. Messersmith (2007)

The adhesive strategy of the gecko relies on foot pads composed of specialized keratinous foot-hairs called setae, which are subdivided into terminal spatulae of approximately 200 nm (ref. 1). Contact between the gecko foot and an opposing surface generates adhesive forces that are sufficient to allow the gecko to cling onto vertical and even inverted surfaces. Although strong, the adhesion is temporary, permitting rapid detachment and reattachment of the gecko foot during locomotion. Researchers have attempted to capture these properties of gecko adhesive in synthetic mimics with nanoscale surface features reminiscent of setae; however, maintenance of adhesive performance over many cycles has been elusive, and gecko adhesion is greatly diminished upon full immersion in water. Here we report a hybrid biologically inspired adhesive consisting of an array of nanofabricated polymer pillars coated with a thin layer of a synthetic polymer that mimics the wet adhesive proteins found in mussel holdfasts. Wet adhesion of the nanostructured polymer pillar arrays increased nearly 15-fold when coated with mussel-mimetic polymer. The system maintains its adhesive performance for over a thousand contact cycles in both dry and wet environments. This hybrid adhesive, which combines the salient design elements of both gecko and mussel adhesives, should be useful for reversible attachment to a variety of surfaces in any environment.

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Author and article information

Journal

Title: Small

Abbreviated Title: Small

Publisher: Wiley

ISSN: 16136810

Publication date Created: August 20 2012

Publication date (Print): August 20 2012

Publication date (Electronic): June 04 2012

Volume: 8

Issue: 16

Pages: 2489-2494

Article

DOI: 10.1002/smll.201200528

PubMed ID: 22674670

SO-VID: 28952bde-607f-4651-a7e1-d26501601b7d

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http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/tdm_license_1.1

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Natural Bactericidal Surfaces: Mechanical Rupture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cells by Cicada Wings

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Most cited references 57

Antifouling coatings: recent developments in the design of surfaces that prevent fouling by proteins, bacteria, and marine organisms.

Biophysics: water-repellent legs of water striders.

A reversible wet/dry adhesive inspired by mussels and geckos.

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