Abstract
Heterotrophic bacteria constituting the biofilm produced in a kitchen sink drain were analyzed, and the biofilm formation abilities and the hydrophobicity of the cell surface layer were measured for the isolates. When the biofilm sample was cultured at 36°C and 25°C for 7 days, there were about 10 times more colonies on oligotrophic R2A agar medium than on eutrophic BHI agar medium. From isolates from the biofilm sample, 13 bacterial species were detected. To examine the biofilm formation ability of these strains, we measured the absorbance (OD570) by crystal violet staining. The absorbance of Brevibacterium casei 7-R-36-1 was the highest (3.029). In the comparison of the absorbance values between genera, Brevibacterium spp. (4 strains) showed the highest absorbance (mean: 2.056), followed by K. pneumoniae (4 strains) with a mean of 1.111. Regarding the hydrophobicity of the isolates, the values ranged from 0.002 for P. nitroreducens (strain 1-B-36-2) to 0.096 for M. lacticum (strain 5-R-25-2). The hydrophobicity values were generally low, and the cell surface layer of all tested strains was highly hydrophilic. The diversity of species of bacteria in the biofilm sample produced in the kitchen sink drain was recognized, and all the isolates had biofilm formation abilities.
