Extracellular polymer matrix

The basic biofilm model149,150 idealizes a biofilm as a homogeneous matrix of bacteria and the extracellular polymers that bind the bacteria together and to the surface. A Monod equation describes substrate use molecular diffusion within the biofilm is described by Fick s second law and mass transfer from the solution to the biofilm surface is modeled with a solute-diffusion layer. Six kinetic parameters (several of which can be estimated from theoretical considerations and others of which must be derived empirically) and the biofilm thickness must be known to calculate the movement of substrate into the biofilm. 

The resident microbes within the mouth readily form biofilms on teeth. A biofilm consists of a population of bacteria coexisting in an orderly structure at the interface of a solid and a liquid [14] and, within a biofilm, bacteria living in colonies encapsulated in a matrix of extracellular polymer. Oral biofilms are known to vary extensively in structure throughout the colony, with regions of densely packed microorganisms surrounded by open water channels. Each type of bacteria exists in reasonably defined environments which are influenced by surrounding cells, distance from the outer surface and local structure, all of which influence availability of nutrients and ambient pH. 

Biofouling Micro-organisms and nutrients Matrix of cells and extracellular polymers. 

In nature, fibrous biopolymers have long been used in the reinforcement of extracellular biocomposites, inspiring the reproduction of this technology using native CNs as filler in a range of host polymer matrixes. Due to the highly crystalline nature of the cellulose nanoparticles, they possess attractive mechanical properties, such as an axial Young s Modulus of around 140 GPa, which is dependent on cellulose crystallinity and axial ratio [36]. When... 

Extracellular bacterial peroxidases and H2O2 oxygenases have been evidenced in the biotransformation studies and this process may lead to further carboxyla-tion of the polymer matrix on exposure to soil microorganisms. Most of the studies in the biodegradation of polymers have primarily been concerned with the... 

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