The Behavior of Staphylococcus aureus Dual-Species Biofilms Treated with Bacteriophage phiIPLA-RODI Depends on the Accompanying Microorganism

The use of bacteriophages as antimicrobials against pathogenic bacteria offers a promising alternative to traditional antibiotics and disinfectants. Significantly, phages may help to remove biofilms, which are notoriously resistant to commonly used eradication methods. However, the successful development of novel antibiofilm strategies must take into account that real-life biofilms usually consist of mixed-species populations. Within this context, this study aimed to explore the effectiveness of bacteriophage-based sanitation procedures for removing polymicrobial biofilms from food industry surfaces. We treated dual-species biofilms formed by the food pathogenic bacterium Staphylococcus aureus in combination with Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, or Lactobacillus pentosus with the staphylococcal phage phiIPLA-RODI. Our results suggest that the impact of bacteriophage treatment on S. aureus mixed-species biofilms varies depending on the accompanying species and the infection conditions. For instance, short treatments (4 h) with a phage suspension under nutrient-limiting conditions reduced the number of S. aureus cells in 5-h biofilms by ∼1 log unit without releasing the nonsusceptible species. In contrast, longer infection periods (18 h) with no nutrient limitation increased the killing of S. aureus cells by the phage (decrease of up to 2.9 log units). However, in some cases, these conditions promoted the growth of the accompanying species. For example, the L. plantarum cell count in the treated sample was up to 2.3 log units higher than that in the untreated control. Furthermore, phage propagation inside dual-species biofilms also depended greatly on the accompanying species, with the highest rate detected in biofilms formed by S. aureus-L. pentosus Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) also showed changes in the three-dimensional structures of the mixed-species biofilms after phage treatment. Altogether, the results presented here highlight the need to study the impact of phage therapy on microbial communities that reflect a more realistic setting.

Importance: Biofilms represent a major source of contamination in industrial and hospital settings. Therefore, developing efficient strategies to combat bacterial biofilms is of the utmost importance from medical and economic perspectives. Bacteriophages have shown potential as novel antibiofilm agents, but further research is still required to fully understand the interactions between phages and biofilm-embedded bacteria. The results presented in this study contribute to achieving a better understanding of such interactions in a more realistic context, considering that most biofilms in the environment consist of mixed-species populations.