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  • Review Article
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Beneficial applications of biofilms

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 22, pages 276–290 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Many microorganisms live in the form of a biofilm. Although they are feared in the medical sector, biofilms that are composed of non-pathogenic organisms can be highly beneficial in many applications, including the production of bulk and fine chemicals. Biofilm systems are natural retentostats in which the biocatalysts can adapt and optimize their metabolism to different conditions over time. The adherent nature of biofilms allows them to be used in continuous systems in which the hydraulic retention time is much shorter than the doubling time of the biocatalysts. Moreover, the resilience of organisms growing in biofilms, together with the potential of uncoupling growth from catalytic activity, offers a wide range of opportunities. The ability to work with continuous systems using a potentially self-advancing whole-cell biocatalyst is attracting interest from a range of disciplines, from applied microbiology to materials science and from bioengineering to process engineering. The field of beneficial biofilms is rapidly evolving, with an increasing number of applications being explored, and the surge in demand for sustainable and biobased solutions and processes is accelerating advances in the field. This Review provides an overview of the research topics, challenges, applications and future directions in beneficial and applied biofilm research.

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Fig. 1: Prevalent biofilm reactor configurations.
Fig. 2: Aerosol reactor with illumination unit for the cultivation of phototrophic terrestrial biofilms.
Fig. 3: Different applications of productive biofilms on inactive substrata.
Fig. 4: Dependency of biofilm height, pH gradient and activity of cells in anodic systems.
Fig. 5: Impact of biofilms on crops and soil procurement.
Fig. 6: Different approaches to using biofilms as engineered materials.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Kollmen, D. Strieth, J. Stiefelmaier and A. Schmeckebier (funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation), Collaborative Research Center 926, project C03 – Project-ID 172116086) as well as R. Karande and M. Bozan for providing research data and illustrations on the topic of phototropic biofilms and reactor configurations, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg University of Technology, Institute of Technical Microbiology, Hamburg, Germany

    Laura-Alina Philipp & Johannes Gescher

  2. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany

    Katja Bühler

  3. RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Institute of Bioprocess Engineering, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Roland Ulber

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Philipp, LA., Bühler, K., Ulber, R. et al. Beneficial applications of biofilms. Nat Rev Microbiol 22, 276–290 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-00985-0

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