Bacterial biofilms and biofouling.

Advances in the development and application of investigative tools, such as scanning confocal laser microscopy and genetic techniques, are leading to new insights concerning the composition, structure, and function of bacterial biofilms. Molecular biology has also demonstrated that bacteria are able to 'sense' surface environments, altering their pattern of gene expression. Recent studies on mechanisms of bacterial attachment provide further evidence for the diversity of attachment mechanisms, as do investigations of attachment interactions between bacteria and invertebrates.