Fig 5.

CFU of planktonic cells and biofilms in coculture of thermophiles. Panels A and B show the results of a total of three batch cultivation experiments in milk determined using the standing steel biofilm model system, including one coculture and two monocultures. (A) Bacterial cell counts in the 3-ml milk medium fraction of a coculture of planktonic cells of Geobacillus thermoglucosidans TNO-09.020 (■) and Anoxybacillus flavithermus TNO-09.006 (□). For reference, the results determined for monocultures of TNO-09.020 (●) and TNO-09.006 (○) in milk were plotted. (B) Bacterial cell counts of the biofilm attached to stainless steel in a coculture of TNO-09.020 cells (■) and TNO-09.006 cells (□). For reference, the results determined for biofilms obtained using monocultures of TNO-09.020 cells (●) and TNO-09.006 cells (○) were plotted. The bacteria were enumerated at 4 different time points; each bar represents the mean and the error bar the standard deviation from two experiments of triplicate measurements. *, significant difference for growth (log CFU) of G. thermoglucosidans TNO-09.020 in the presence or absence of A. flavithermus TNO-09.006 during coculture (t test; P < 0.01).