201 9 Biofilms: A Phenotypic Mechanism of Bacteria Conferring Tolerance Against 18 Stress and Antibiotics Anwar Alam, Ashutosh Kumar, Prajna Tripathi, Nasreen Z. Ehtesham, and Seyed E. Hasnain Abstract Biofilm, as a heterogenous congregation of microbial cells enclosed within a pellicle, has largely gained attention due to their historical importance in environ- ment as sludges, flocs, slimes, etc. Biofilms in medical research have been an active area of research in periodontics, in wounds, and in surgical implants. With the availability of whole genome sequences, it is now evident that the mechanisms that control biofilm formation have largely remained conserved during the course of evolution, pointing to the fact that biofilm formation is an Anwar Alam, Ashutosh Kumar and Prajna Tripathi have contributed equally to this chapter. A. Alam JH Institute of Molecular Medicine, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Delhi, India Inflammation Biology and Cell Signaling Laboratory, ICMR-National Institute of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital Campus, New Delhi, Delhi, India A. Kumar Department of Microbiology, Tripura University (A Central University), Agartala, Tripura, India P. Tripathi National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, Delhi, India JH Institute of Molecular Medicine, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Delhi, India N. Z. Ehtesham Inflammation Biology and Cell Signaling Laboratory, ICMR-National Institute of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital Campus, New Delhi, Delhi, India e-mail:
[email protected] S. E. Hasnain (*) JH Institute of Molecular Medicine, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Delhi, India Dr Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, India e-mail:
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