Review on bacterial biofilm: An universal cause of contamination Soumya Satpathy a , Sudip Kumar Sen b , Smaranika Pattanaik a , Sangeeta Raut c,n a Department of Microbiology, School of Life Science, Sambalpur University, Odisha, India b Ingene Research Lab, Biostadt India Limited, Waluj, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India c Department of Biotechnology, Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Gunupur, Rayagada, Odisha, India article info Article history: Received 12 March 2016 Accepted 3 May 2016 Available online 7 May 2016 Keywords: Bacterial biofilm Antimicrobial agent Bio control Enzyme Plant extract abstract Biofilms contain cluster of microorganisms that are found to be associated with the biotic and abiotic surfaces. Biofilm formation is a dynamic process and different mechanisms are involved in their at- tachment and growth. The formation of microbial biofilms is an important reason for failure of anti- microbial therapy. Biofilm-associated infections represent one of the major threats of modern medicine. Consequently, various preventive and control strategies like mechanical, physical and chemical methods can be appropriately applied for controlling biofilm formation or eradicate mature biofilm. The present review will focus on describing the effective bio control and removal of biofilms. These newer bio control strategies are considered as ecofriendly and cost effective method in terms of therapeutic. & 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 56 2. Biofilm development .................................................................................................. 57 3. Molecular basis of biofilm formation ..................................................................................... 57 4. Biofilm challenge ..................................................................................................... 57 5. Biofilm battle to antimicrobial agents .................................................................................... 58 6. Common process for biofilms control ..................................................................................... 59 7. Mechanical control ................................................................................................... 59 8. Physical control ...................................................................................................... 59 9. Chemical control ..................................................................................................... 63 10. Green technology against biofilm ........................................................................................ 63 11. Bacteriophages against biofilm .......................................................................................... 63 12. Enzyme against biofilm ................................................................................................ 63 13. Plant extract against biofilm ............................................................................................ 64 14. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 64 References .............................................................................................................. 64 1. Introduction Biofilms can be either single or multilayered. Biofilms contain either homogenous or heterogeneous populations of bacteria which remain in the matrix made up of extracellular polymeric substances secreted by component population of the biofilm. Costerton, one of the founding fathers of biofilm research, de- scribed a biofilm as a structured community of bacterial cells en- closed in a self-produced polymeric matrix and adherent to an inert or living surface (Costerton et al., 1999). Bacterial biofilms are widely distributed and play important roles in many industrial activities. In dairy industry biofilm formation can lead to serious hygiene problems and economic losses due to food spoilage and equipment impairment (Gram et al., 2007). A huge significant number of reports have appeared on the persistence of some Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bab Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2016.05.002 1878-8181/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Correspondence to: Department of Biotechnology, Gandhi Institute of En- gineering and Technology, Gunupur, Raygada 76022, Odisha, India. E-mail address: research.sangeeta@gmail.com (S. Raut). Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology 7 (2016) 56–66