Candida Biofilms: an Update

Our classical perception of microorganisms as unicellular life forms is almost entirely based on the pure-culture mode of growth; since microbial suspensions can be diluted to a single cell and studied in liquid culture, this mode of growth has traditionally predominated in the study of microbial physiology and pathogenesis in the research laboratory. However, many microbes in their natural habitats are found in biofilm ecosystems attached to surfaces and not as free-floating (planktonic) organisms (20, 21, 27). Thus, biofilms are defined as structured microbial communities that are attached to a surface and encased in a matrix of exopolymeric material. This is of particular significance since it is now…

• BW
  Burroughs Wellcome Fund
• TH
  Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
• NI
  National Institutes of Health