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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.

Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1659828

This article is part of the Research TopicAntimicrobial Surfaces and Airborne Pathogens: The New Frontiers in Hospital SafetyView all 3 articles

Comparison of Single Bacteria and a Bacterial Reference Community in a Test Against Coated Surfaces of Varying Copper Content

Provisionally accepted
Yen  Ly-SauerbreyYen Ly-Sauerbrey1*Ronja  AntonRonja Anton2Laura  KopruchLaura Kopruch3Carolin  Luisa KraemerCarolin Luisa Kraemer1Alessa  Lalinka BoschertAlessa Lalinka Boschert4,5Claudio  NeidhöferClaudio Neidhöfer6Oliver  SchwengersOliver Schwengers7Daniela  ZanderDaniela Zander2,3Stefan  LeukoStefan Leuko1
  • 1Institute for Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany
  • 2Institute for Frontier Materials on Earth and in Space, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany
  • 3Institute for Frontier Materials on Earth and in Space, Chair of Corrosion and Corrosion Protection, Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • 4MVZ Labor Dr Limbach & Kollegen eGbR, Heidelberg, Germany
  • 5Universitatsklinikum Koln Institut fur Medizinische Mikrobiologie Immunologie und Hygiene, Cologne, Germany
  • 6Division of Clinical Bacteriology and Mycology, Universitatsspital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
  • 7Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Justus-Liebig-Universitat Giessen, Giessen, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Pathogens can easily transmit via surfaces and objects. In light of the ongoing pandemic of antimicrobial resistance, silently threatening millions worldwide, this is of particular concern in clinical and public environments. Thus, it is crucial to understand how antimicrobial materials influence surface-associated microbes and microbial communities. Copper, known for its antimicrobial activity, has demonstrated effectiveness against numerous clinically relevant pathogens. However, these in vitro pure cultures are in stark contrast to the in vivo microbial communities. Additionally, the application of pure copper surfaces is high in cost and maintenance. Hence, in this study we not only tested the antibacterial effectivity of different copper concentrations against single species, but also against a reference bacterial community representing the most abundant bacterial genera in public transport. This allowed a comparison of the antibacterial efficacy of copper against a bacterial community and against single species. Coatings on glass, which were composed of full copper (100 at.% Cu) and copper-aluminum alloys with different Cu contents (79 at.%, 53 at.% and 24 at.%) were tested with two selected single species (Burkholderia lata DSM 23089 T and Staphylococcus capitis DSM 111179) and those species within the bacterial community. In general, the survival of the two species within the bacterial community was higher compared to their respective survival as a single species, significantly for S. capitis. Surfaces with 100 at.% copper content showed the greatest antibacterial effect in terms of bacterial survival, with a reduced survival of up to 10 -6 . The 79 at.% Cu coating only had an inhibitory effect on the metabolic activity of B. lata when exposed to the surfaces as single species. Our results highlight the benefits of additional testing of microbial communities rather than pure cultures. These experiments allow for enhanced evaluation of antimicrobial surfaces since they also take complex and diverse interactions within a surface microbiota into account. Therefore, community testing might be the more holistic approach for the testing of antibacterial materials.

Keywords: antimicrobial materials1, copper coating2, bacterial community3, copper gradient4, microbial load5

Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ly-Sauerbrey, Anton, Kopruch, Kraemer, Boschert, Neidhöfer, Schwengers, Zander and Leuko. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Yen Ly-Sauerbrey, Institute for Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany

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