Run your tongue over your teeth. If it's been a while since you
last brushed, you may feel a filmy or fuzzy coating on your
teeth. What's there is similar to the slimy coating you might
feel if you stuck your finger down into a sink drain or that you
might see coating the sides and bottom of a swimming pool that
hasn't been kept clean. These are all examples of biofilms.
Biofilms are communities of microbes. They form when bacterial
cells able to make large amounts of sticky, slimy substances
called polysaccharides (polly-sack-uh-rides) attach themselves
to a surface. The slimy coating they make holds the cells to the
surface they've settled on and captures other bacteria who live
and grow off the waste products produced by the first bacteria.
Layers keep being added, creating a complex community. In this
activity, you'll explore whether biofilms can form on all
possible surfaces and which they grow best on. You'll also learn
something about how we can prevent biofilm formation. Print out
these pages and foll