Bacterial community structure of early-stage marine biofilms on various artificial substrata.

To investigate the primary colonizers and influence of substrata types on early-stage biofilm-forming communities in the southern coastal seawater of India, marine biofilms (assembled on various artificial substrata such as stainless steel, titanium and HDPE) and peripheral seawater samples were collected for consecutively 15 days. Bacterial community composition of biofilm-forming and planktonic fraction was then investigated using high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) of hyper-variable V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene using standard protocol. The outcomes of our study will provide a scientific understanding of the factors shaping initial biofilm development in the marine environment and will help in designing efficient site-specific anti-biofouling strategies.