Biosurfactants as novel antibiofilm agents: mechanisms, biomedical applications, and applications in biofilm-associated infections.

Abstract

Biofilm-related infections represent a long-standing problem in clinical and industrial environments because of their innate resistance to standard antimicrobials. Biosurfactants, which are amphiphilic and biodegradable compounds made by microorganisms, are showing great promise as anti-biofilm agents due to their wide-ranging antimicrobial effects and minimal toxicity. They function by reducing bacterial adhesion, destabilizing the structural integrity of the extracellular polymeric substance m