1. Introduction
Biofilm is a sessile high-density community of bacteria enveloped
by self-secreted extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) that
protects the bacterial cells from the harsh external stresses in its
environment. Not unlike other bacteria, the biofilm mode of growth
of probiotics has been demonstrated to exhibit distinct, often superior,
characteristics compared to their planktonic counterparts.
For example, the biofilm mode of growth was found to enhance the
in vitro immunomodulatory effect of Lactobacillus casei (Rieu et al.,
2014) and to reduce the antimicrobial susceptibility of Lactobacillus