Investigating Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm preservation for scanning electron microscopy

• DOI: 10.1099/acmi.0.000470.v3
• Publication Date: 2023-02-03T12:16:41Z
• Authors: Renee M. Fleeman; Michelle Mikesh; Bryan W. Davies
• Keywords: Extracellular polymeric substance

Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm formation is associated with chronic and relapsing infections. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) a powerful tool for characterizing structure studying their formation. Reliable visualization of requires careful sample preservation, otherwise there may be loss non-covalent interactions that are susceptible to damage during the dehydration washing preparation steps. However, no standard procedure has been adopted in literature fix K. scanning studies. This lack standardization makes it challenging compare results between studies determine degree which native structures have preserved. To advance this critical area study, we investigated different fixation methods preservation. Our study reveals impact steps can on retaining architecture observed using microscopy. Using developed through our studies, show although species overproduce capsular extracellular polysaccharides produced more robust biofilms, form absence polysaccharides.