Beginning: November 2013
Defence: 28/03/2017
Supervisor: CULIOLI Gérald
Co-supervisor: ORTALO-MAGNE Annick
In the marine environment, any immersed surface is subjected to colonization by many organisms (biofouling). The biofilms development is a key stage of this phenomenon. Communication systems are controlled in these structures by chemical signals. In this work, the study of the chemical signature of natural biofilms formed in situ was carried out among a gradient of contamination of metal contaminants in the bay of Toulon and according to the nature of the coating on the immersed surface. Clear chemical variations of the biofilms collected were observed and were correlated with variations in microbial community. The in vitro study of 4 bacterial strains harvested from natural biofilms allowed, after optimization of the analysis methodologies, their discrimination according to their metabolic profile. Biomarkers were highlited, particularly ornithine lipids production by the Pseudoalteromonas lipolytica strain. The biological response of this strain depending on its phenotype and face to copper stress was studied by metabolomics and proteomics revealing important modulations of certain biosynthetic pathways.