Biofilms, the customized microniche.

TLDR: It is clearly, timely to ask the question "What are the essential differences between a planktonic cell growing in the conventional batch culture and a cell of the same species growing in a natural multispecies biofilm?"

Abstract: At its 1993 annual meeting, the American Society for Microbiology deemed the biofilm mode of growth to be a concept worthy of an extraordinary 4-day colloquium consisting of 52 lectures from invited speakers. Perhaps, immediately following this herculean exercise, it is germane to consider the available evidence for the importance and uniqueness of this mode of growth and to assess the consequences of this concept in modern microbiology. It is, clearly, timely to ask the question "What are the essential differences between a planktonic cell growing in the conventional batch culture and a cell of the same species growing in a natural multispecies biofilm?" This question can be asked with some urgency, because whether we intended it or not, microbiologists have actually extrapolated between laboratory cultures and real ecosystems for hundreds of years and, lately, these extrapolations appear to have become increasingly strained and inaccurate.