To begin, in a laminar hood, dispense six milliliters of Soutan's media supplemented with 2%glucose into the wells of a six-well plate. Inoculate the wells with 120 microliters of the secondary cultures of mycobacterium smegmatis. Keep one un-inoculated well as a media control.
Next, pipette the culture up and down with a 1-milliliter micropipette for even mixing. Cover the lid and carefully seal the plate with paraffin film. Incubate the plate in a static incubator at 37 degrees Celsius for seven days.
For a visual estimation of biofilm growth, place the plates in a gel documentation system under epi white light illumination. To measure dry weight, weigh a sheet of blotting paper. Extract the biofilm from the six-well plate and transfer it onto the paper with a spatula.
Carefully collect most of the biofilm from the culture. Place the biofilm on the blotting paper. Place the blotting paper in an incubator until the biofilm dries completely.
Then measure the combined weight of the paper and biofilm. Biofilm pellicles were visible from Day 3 onwards. Reticulation of the cultures improved with the addition of 2%glucose to Soutan's media.
Biofilm development was visible between days 3 to 6. A film with slight reticulation was observed on Day 3. This film matured by Day 5 and disintegrated from Day 6.
