Variability in biofilm production by Listeria monocytogenes correlated to strain origin and growth conditions

This study aimed to identify factors that influence the development of biofilm by Listeria monocytogenes strains and to determine the extent to which biofilm production protects against quaternary ammonium compound (QAC) disinfectant challenge. A total of 95 L. monocytogenes strains were studied and biofilm production was assessed as a function of incubation temperature, media pH, strain origin, serotype, and environmental persistence status. Attachment and biofilm development (inferred by the level of attached biomass) were measured in vitro using a colourimetric 96-well microtitre plate method in nutritive media (Brain–Heart Infusion). Increased biofilm production correlated with increasing temperature and the most acidic, or most alkaline, growth conditions tested. Clinical and environmental (food factory) strains were observed to increase biofilm production at higher and lower incubation temperatures respectively,independent of their rate of planktonic growth. Serotype 1/2a strains produced significantly more biofilm. Biofilm maturity, rather than strain, was correlated with resistance to QAC. Carbohydrate containing exopolymeric material could not be detected in the biofilm of representative strains, and no correlation between strains recovered as persistent food factory contaminants and biofilm production was identified. Although limited to in vitro inference based on the assay system used, our results suggest that environmental conditions determine the level of biofilm production by L. monocytogenes strains, independent of the rate of planktonic growth, and that this may manifest from selection pressures to which a given strain grows optimally.