Bacterial Biofilm Formation in Phytopathogens: Mechanisms, Environmental Drivers, and Implications for Disease Management

Abstract

Bacterial diseases are among the leading plant diseases that pose significant challenges to crops, fruits, and vegetable production worldwide, leading to yield losses, reduced quality and economic loss and more than 200 bacterial pathogens cause severe diseases in economically important crops worldwide. Management of plant pathogenic bacteria is crucial for optimum yield of crops that engender food production and the food security. The use of antibiotics and chemicals are currently the major treatment for bacterial diseases for quick resolution especially in an overwhelming situations in a large scale fields. However, biofilms, being a barrier that exists around bacterial cells, reduces the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics and causes persistent infections and chemical control options usually have side effect on human health and the environment as some bactericides are toxic to living organisms and non-biodegradable. Moreover, these tactics are continuously challenged by the ever-evolving resistant bacterial population midwifed by bacteria biofilms formation and it has been shown that bacteria in a biofilm increase their resistance against antibiotics by about 1000-fold. The aim of the study was to Review and elucidate Bacterial Biofilm Formation in Phytopathogens: Mechanisms, Environmental Drivers, and Implications for Disease Management.  Effective management methods should be targeting quorum sensing, a strategy that interferes with the cell-to-cell communication systems of bacteria, is a promising approach for the development of novel anti-biofilm therapeutics and ultimately resolved virtually most of bacterial diseases incidence. Quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) have been extensively evaluated for their efficacy in clinically relevant bacterial biofilms using in vitro and in vivo models, specifically, the development of an autoinducing peptide inhibitor which can effectively reduce biofilm formation in both biological and non-biological surfaces.