Bacteria are considered as the major cell factories, which can effectively convert nitrogen and carbon sources to a wide variety of extracellular and intracellular biopolymers like polyamides, polysaccharides, polyphosphates, polyesters, proteinaceous compounds, and extracellular DNA. Bacterial biopolymers find applications in pathogenicity, and their diverse materialistic and chemical properties make them suitable to be used in medicinal industries. When these biopolymer compounds are obtained from pathogenic bacteria, they serve as important virulence factors, but when they are produced by non-pathogenic bacteria, they act as food components or biomaterials. There have been interdisciplinary studies going on to focus on the molecular mechanism of synthesis of bacterial biopolymers and identification of new targets for antimicrobial drugs, utilizing synthetic biology for designing and production of innovative biomaterials. This review sheds light on the mechanism of synthesis of bacterial biopolymers and its necessary modifications to be used as cell based micro-factories for the production of tailor-made biomaterials for high-end applications and their role in pathogenesis.
Biofilm is a syntrophic association of sessile groups of microbial cells that adhere to biotic and abiotic surfaces with the help of pili and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). EPSs also prevent penetration of antimicrobials/antibiotics into the sessile groups of cells. Hence, methods and agents to avoid or remove biofilms are urgently needed. Enzymes play important roles in the removal of biofilm in natural environments and may be promising agents for this purpose. As the major component of the EPS is polysaccharide, amylase has inhibited EPS by preventing the adherence of the microbial cells, thus making amylase a suitable antimicrobial agent. On the other hand, salivary amylase binds to amylase-binding protein of plaque-forming Streptococci and initiates the formation of biofilm. This review investigates the contradictory actions and microbe-associated genes of amylases, with emphasis on their structural and functional characteristics.