bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/336370; this version posted June 2, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 G. Aboagye a,*, M.T. Rowe b. 2 a Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom 3 b Food Microbiology Branch, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Newforge Lane, Belfast 4 BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom 5 * Corresponding author. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Allied Health 6 Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana. 7 Tel: +233202993078; Email:
[email protected] 8 9 Title: Biofilm formation by Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis in aqueous extract 10 of schmutzdecke for clarifying untreated water in water treatment operations 11 12 ABSTRACT 13 AIMS: To determine the effect of aqueous extract of schmutzdecke on adhesion and biofilm 14 formation by three isolates of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (Map) under 15 laboratory conditions. METHODS AND RESULTS: Strains of Mycobacterium avium ssp. 16 paratuberculosis in aqueous extract of schmutzdecke were subjected to adhesion tests on 17 two topologically different substrata i.e. aluminium and stainless steel coupons. Biofilm 18 formation was then monitored in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plates. All the three strains 19 adhered onto both coupons, howbeit greatly on aluminium than stainless steel. In the PVC 20 plates, however, all strains developed biofilms which were observed by spectrophotometric 21 analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The environmental isolates of Map attained higher cell 22 proliferation in both filtered and unfiltered aqueous extracts of schmutzdecke (FAES and 23 UAES respectively) compared with the human isolate.